A large proportion of persons needing long term care services at home or in institutions are cognitively impaired, including a majority of severely functionally impaired elderly. The estimate arrived at for this paper is that over six million Americans are cognitively impaired enough to negatively affect their functioning including over four million with Alzheimer's disease and other dementias. Thus, it is essential that long term care legislation and programs be designed to assure appropriate services for the cognitively impaired.
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References
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2. To place the Pennsylvania program experience in context, we note here the findings of the Lawton P, Brody E et al study of Alzheimer caregiver respite use in their subsidized program: 'The experimental subjects availed themselves of experimental respite services as follows: 42 percent used in-home services, only 3 percent used our day care services, and 14 percent used our nursing-home respite. Note, however, that an additional 18 percent used in-home respite, an additional 35 percent used day care, and about 1 percent used institutional respite that was not associated with our experimental program. Putting the two estimates together, we have about 60 percent using respite (some using more than one type of service). Lawton, Powell M, Brody E, Saperstein A: Respite care for Alzheimer's families: Research findings and their relevance to providers. Am J of Alz Care & Rel Disorders & Res, Nov/Dec 1989:33
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13. Contact author at 101 Commonwealth Ave., Concord, MA 01742, or 508/369-3357
