MEMORYCARE

MemoryCare, established in 2000 is the only organization in Western North Carolina dedicated to providing integrated medical and support services to older adults and their families faced with memory impairment due to Alzheimer’s disease and related dementias. Seventeen percent of our region’s population is over 65 years of age. Nearly half of those over 85 or older suffer from some form of memory loss that impairs their daily function. The majority of persons with dementia (80%) are cared for within a home setting by family members; the disease also has significant impact upon their caregivers. Our goal is to enhance the basic services available in the community so that older adults and their families can achieve the highest possible quality of life with a progressive memory disorder.

Utilizing a multidisciplinary holistic model of care, we provide diagnostic work-up, disease management planning, training and medical assistance to manage difficult behaviors, caregiver training, counseling and support. All families are provided with a detailed written care plan that is amended as the dementia progresses and have full access to our resource library and staff for educational material. MemoryCare staff is devoted to providing community education on dementia, caregiving, and aging related health issues. We teach professional health care providers on these topics as well.

MemoryCare was developed as a non-profit charitable organization because Medicare and other insurance providers do not cover the counseling, education, training and support services we provide to families. These services are the core of our mission and vital to our high degree of client and community satisfaction. Families help with a cost-sharing fee, but in order to remain affordable and accessible to all we must rely upon the generosity of our community. One half of our operating budget is dependent on charitable support via grants and public donations.

MemoryCare provided comprehensive services to 872 patients and 2613 enrolled caregivers in 2009. MemoryCare staff and volunteers provided community and professional education to over 1800 participants in 2009.