A Home Away From Home for People With Dementia, Alzheimer's

The Circles of Caring adult day health program in Pullman, Wash., has evolved from a pilot program originally designed to address a gap in services for people with dementia and Alzheimer's to provide health services for adults with various chronic illnesses, reports the Associated Press . Circles also provides respite care for participants' caregivers. Medicare was supposed to assume funding for the program after the conclusion of a three-year federal rural health outreach grant secured in 2001. Instead, the Gritman Medical Center underwrote Circles until 2012, investing some $3.8 million. "The number of people with dementia and Alzheimer's increases every year, and there's still no availability of funding for these services," notes former Circles co-director Sharon Benson. "I hope at some point Medicare will come to their senses and realize these programs are less expensive." Circles is currently run by participants' families with the help of local donors, and Executive Director Hollie Mooney says the program concentrates on holistic health, with staff monitoring participants' physical, social, and cognitive functioning. "You need to be able to laugh and be social and support one another," Mooney says. "I see people that maybe can't fully be leaders out in the community, but they come here and they can help each other out."