Alzheimer's Association and Marriott Senior Living Services Join Forces to Improve Alzheimer Care Services

Alzheimer's Association
Thursday, 15 June 2000

In a step toward improving the quality of care provided to individuals with Alzheimer's disease or other memory-related disorders, the Alzheimer's Association and Marriott Senior Living Services (MSLS), a division of Marriott International, Inc. (MAR/NYSE) will begin a two-year collaboration to focus on improved Alzheimer care services in the U.S.

"Today, four million Americans have Alzheimer's disease. Unless a cure or prevention is found, that number will jump to 14 million by 2050," said Stephen McConnell, vice president of public policy and program services for the Alzheimer's Association. "Today, innovative collaborations like this are absolutely critical in the care industry if we are to provide quality care for those millions of individuals tomorrow."

Through a contractual agreement, the Alzheimer's Association and MSLS will work together to develop MSLS staff training programs that will ultimately enhance the lives of individuals who have Alzheimer's disease or other memory-related disorders.

"Our goal is to continuously upgrade the care of residents with Alzheimer's disease and provide the best care within the assisted living industry," said Tal Widdes, National Director of Alzheimer's Services, Marriott Senior Living Services. "Working with the Alzheimer's Association will enable us to provide a richer, fuller program of care to our residents who have Alzheimer's or a related dementia."

Within the assisted living industry, standards for the care of Alzheimer's residents vary among senior-care providers. This collaboration may develop higher levels of care that will be adapted by the industry.

The first program from this new collaboration will begin this month, as the Alzheimer's Association begins training MSLS associates with its activity-based training program, "Activity Based Alzheimer Care: Building a Therapeutic Program" (ABAC). The ABAC training program uses interactive and experiential techniques to train professionals who develop activity programs for people with Alzheimer's and other memory-related disorders.

"This is the first time a national training program from the Alzheimer's Association will be implemented through a large residential care provider," said McConnell. "This exciting opportunity opens many doors for future collaborations with the Marriott Senior Living Services."

Although Marriott's activities directors and coordinators participate in standard training programs, including Marriott's extensive behavior management program, this will be the first specialized training which focuses specifically on enriching and enhancing activities for assisted living and special care needs.

"Activities are defined as every event a resident can experience during the day, from bathing and eating to participating in social activities," said Widdes. "The ABAC training program will deepen our staff's understanding and capability to help our residents engage more fully in daily routines and activities."

"Activities are a tool for enriching people's lives," said McConnell. "Our program will help MSLS associates develop activities based on residents' strengths, interests and abilities, make activities meaningful and appropriate, and provide better assessment tools for programming."

"The ABAC training program also allows us to utilize one program and implement it in all of our communities, providing a national program with consistent standards of care for all of our communities to follow," Widdes added.

Through the training program, Marriott managers and activities directors will undergo extensive training in various areas of activity program development. Major areas of study include: identifying meaningful and appropriate activities; understanding factors that affect the accuracy of assessments; choosing the right program style; developing programs for a variety of abilities; task analysis; strength-based programming and activity adaptations.

"When activity programs are planned around a resident's preferences and skill levels, activity goals become a reality rather than a perfunctory paper exercise," said Widdes. "Daily activities will become fail-safe, interesting, and matched to the residents' functional and cognitive levels. When the activity program is effective, the behavior problems are greatly diminished and the social climate becomes more positive and appealing."

Marriott Senior Living Services operates 147 senior living communities in 30 states with others under development and construction. To learn more about Marriott Senior Living Services including its Special Care Centers, call 1 (800) 880-3131 or visit their web site at http://www.marriott.com/seniors.

The Alzheimer's Association is the largest national voluntary health organization dedicated to research for the causes, treatments, prevention and cure of Alzheimer's disease, as well as to providing education and support for people with the disease, their families and caregivers. For information about programs and services, call (800) 272-3900.

Health care professionals can learn more about creative care strategies at World Alzheimer Congress 2000 in July. World leaders in Alzheimer care and research will meet in Washington, D.C. for the vital purpose of sharing information to improve the lives of people affected by Alzheimer's disease. This unique gathering of scientists, health care professionals and other Alzheimer specialists is a collaborative effort of the Alzheimer's Association, Alzheimer's Disease International and the Alzheimer Society of Canada.

For more information, or to contact Alzheimer's Association, see their website at: www.alz.org