Asian Community Center Respite and Bridge to Healthy Families

Asian Community Center’s (“ACC”) community-based programs include a number of services specifically targeting family caregivers. Programs include ACC Drop-In Respite and Caregiver Cooperative (“Respite”), for older adults with physical and/or cognitive impairments and their family caregivers.

Organization:

Asian Community Center

Asian Community Center (ACC) is a non-profit established in 1972 whose mission is to promote the general welfare and enhance the quality of life for the Asian Pacific Islander community by identifying, developing, and providing culturally sensitive health and social services for older adults and caregivers.

Location:

Sacramento, California

How does it work?

The Bridge enables families to gain access to comprehensive support services for caregivers and their elders. Goals include (1) improved understanding of dementia and depression among families and community organizations; (2) building capacity to enable service providers, including physicians, to reach API families and effectively coordinate services; and (3) piloting programs to identify, serve and connect families with service providers and resources.

ACC partnered with the Alzheimer’s Association and University of California-Davis Alzheimer’s Disease Center to develop the Bridge to Healthy Families to serve families affected by Alzheimer’s disease and other dementias.

Why is it successful?

The program fosters social interaction, promotes safety, stimulating, mental and physical activity, and provides an environment to learn new caregiving skills. Within its first year, Bridge to Healthy Families has made presentations to over 200 (mostly API) community members, over 500 physicians, over 200 other service providers, 740 outreach contacts, assessed 39 families for services and provided ongoing social work and/or community nurse services.

For more information: www.accsv.org