Creating Dementia-Inclusive Communities Using a Geriatric Workforce Enhancement Program Framework

Abstract The Geriatric Workforce Enhancement Program (GWEP) sponsored by HRSA provides an organizing framework around which dementia inclusive community initiatives can be successfully implemented and sustained. The overarching goal of all GWEPs is to improve outcomes for older adults by promoting evidence-based education that spans the continuum of care. This includes integration of academic, clinical, and community-based providers. By their very nature, all GWEPs partner across agencies throughout the state to deliver interprofessional education that will impact people living with dementia and their caregivers at the community, primary care, and acute care levels. Dementia inclusive community initiatives must have this kind of high-level interagency coordination. Our GWEP has successfully implemented Dementia Friends sessions across multiple sectors (Veterans, EMS, clergy, libraries, developmentally disabled, living alone) both in-person and virtually due to COVID-19. This symposium will share the methods to organize at the community level to deliver a unified message community-wide.


THE PANDEMIC AND OLDER WOMEN IN THE UNITED STATES: IMPACTS ON SOCIAL NETWORKS AND WELL-BEING Lindsay Ryan, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan, United States
The current study examines the unique impacts of the ongoing COVID-19 Pandemic on the well-being of middle aged to older women from the 2020 Health and Retirement Study (n = 1252) and how their reports of social contact during the pandemic compare to age-matched women from 2018 (n = 2063).Although up to a third of women across age categories reported changes in social contact due to the pandemic, their rates of communication with friends and family were not significantly different from their counterparts in 2018.Results find expected age patterns in satisfaction with life during the pandemic), where the young-old report the highest levels.However, the association of life satisfaction with the extent to which women reported more loneliness during the pandemic was only significant among the young old and oldest old.Age differences in pandemic-specific experiences in relation to well-being are discussed within a life course developmental framework.

RACE DIFFERENCES IN COVID-19 STRESS AND SOCIAL ISOLATION: IMPLICATIONS FOR DEPRESSIVE SYMPTOMS
Kira Birditt, 1 Akari Oya, 1 Angela Turkelson, 1 Courtney Polenick, 1 and Karen Fingerman, 2 1.University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan, United States, 2. The University of Texas at Austin, Austin, Texas, United States The experience of the COVID-19 pandemic may vary widely by race.This study examined race differences in pandemic-related stress, social isolation and the implications for well-being.Participants included 1260 adults (45% women) ages 18 to 97 from the May and June 2020 nationally representative Survey of Consumers and 562 who completed a 6 month follow up in November/December.A total of 76% were White, 10% were Black, 3% were Asian, and 11% were Hispanic.Participants reported experiences of pandemic-related stress, social isolation and depressive symptoms in the last month.Analyses showed that minority groups reported greater pandemic related stress that had negative implications for depressive symptoms over time.The implication of social isolation for the stress-depressive symptoms link also varied by race.Overall this study showed racial inequities in the implications of COVID-19 pandemic and that reducing social isolation may only be beneficial for certain racial/ethnic groups.

Session 4325 (Symposium)
A MODEL TO TRANSFORM COMMUNITIES TOWARD BECOMING DEMENTIA INCLUSIVE Chair: Jennifer Drost Discussant: Margaret Sanders As the US population ages, the prevalence of people living with dementia will also increase.It is estimated that by 2050, 13.8 million American's 65 and older will be diagnosed with dementia, and currently only 40% of those living with dementia receive an official diagnosis.70% of people living with dementia live in the community.In order to optimize quality of life and extend each person's ability to remain living in their homes for as long as possible, it is important for communities to educate consumers and providers alike about Alzheimer's Disease and related dementias, focusing on behaviors and interventions.This education must cross multiple sectors to effectively increase awareness, decrease stigma, and enable participation in community living for people living with dementia and their caregivers.Dementia Friends USA offers a framework for implementation of dementia friendly inclusive community initiatives that spans professions and incorporates patient and caregiver perspectives.The four symposia will 1) lead us through the evidence that supports the Dementia Friends USA approach, 2) demonstrate how this approach can be operationalized in a truly integrated fashion at the community level using HRSA's Geriatric Workforce Enhancement Program (GWEP), 3) provide step-by-step instructions for implementing Dementia Friends Community sessions, focusing on one sector at a time (in this case the Developmental Disability population), and 4) discuss the individual and community level outcomes of Dementia Friends implementation.

CREATING DEMENTIA-INCLUSIVE COMMUNITIES USING A GERIATRIC WORKFORCE ENHANCEMENT PROGRAM FRAMEWORK
Jennifer Drost, 1 and Margaret Sanders, 2 1. Summa Health System, Akron, Ohio, United States, 2. Northeast Ohio Medical University, ROOTSTOWN, Ohio, United States The Geriatric Workforce Enhancement Program (GWEP) sponsored by HRSA provides an organizing framework around which dementia inclusive community initiatives can be successfully implemented and sustained.The overarching goal of all GWEPs is to improve outcomes for older adults by promoting evidence-based education that spans the continuum of care.This includes integration of academic, clinical, and community-based providers.By their very nature, all GWEPs partner across agencies throughout the state to deliver interprofessional education that will impact people living with dementia and their caregivers at the community, primary care, and acute care levels.Dementia inclusive community initiatives must have this kind of high-level interagency coordination.Our GWEP has successfully implemented Dementia Friends sessions across multiple sectors (Veterans, EMS, clergy, libraries, developmentally disabled, living alone) both in-person and virtually due to COVID-19.This symposium will share the methods to organize at the community level to deliver a unified message community-wide.According to the World Dementia Council, three components are important to effectively engage a community to become dementia inclusive, 1) raising awareness and consequently decreasing stigma, 2) enabling participation, and 3) providing support-including in health and care settings.Too many times these components are separate initiatives thus limiting their effectiveness and sustainability.By applying the collective impact model and utilizing the Dementia Friends program as the link between the three, all dementia inclusive efforts can be enhanced and sustained regardless of the range of activities and approaches a community chooses to adopt.This symposium provides both evidence and examples of how to personalize and employ the Dementia Friends program to optimize the process, outcome, and impact of dementia inclusive initiatives.By engaging the entire community, awareness is raised, the structure is in place to enable action, and cross-sector collaboration will ensure continuation and sustainability of these important efforts.

IMPROVING CARE FOR INDIVIDUALS LIVING WITH INTELLECTUAL DEVELOPMENTAL DISABILITIES AND DEMENTIA Donna Barrett, Summit County Public Health, Akron, Ohio, United States
Ultimately, transformation of communities can only occur through educational efforts delivered to specific community sectors.Although the portion of people with Intellectual Developmental Disabilities who develop dementia as they age is equal to that of the general population, individuals with Down syndrome are at a much higher risk.This symposium will describe how a county health department partnered with the local County Board of Developmental Disabilities to systematically incorporate Dementia Friends for Intellectual Developmental Disabilities with Alzheimer's disease training to their staff and provider network.We will describe who to get on board with the idea, how to organize, and how to deliver specific trainings.Outcomes related to increase in participant knowledge, increases in service provision and outcomes related to staff mentoring will be discussed.

ESTABLISHING A DEMENTIA-INCLUSIVE COMMUNITY: THE EVALUATION OF DEMENTIA FRIENDS IN CLEVELAND HEIGHTS
Jessica Bibbo, Jennifer Cardellini, and Sarah Nicolay, Benjamin Rose Institute on Aging, Cleveland, Ohio, United States Cleveland Heights, in northeast Ohio, is currently working towards becoming a member of the Dementia Friendly America National Network.Utilizing the Dementia Friends curriculum to raise community members' awareness of issues related to dementia is a key component of this initiative.Our initial efforts toward this goal targeted two sectors, namely community member and libraries.Participants completed on-line surveys at the beginning and end of each session.The surveys include the Brief Tool for Dementia-Friendly Education and Training Sessions developed by the Administration for Community Living.Of the 22 participants, nine had not previously attended a Dementia Friends session and completed both pre-and post-session surveys.Results indicated participants felt more confident interacting with people living with dementia at post-session compared to pre-session (t = -2.83,p=.022).Changes at the individual level may create more inclusive communities for people living with dementia and those who care for and about them.The number of married immigrants is increasing in Korea, and family dissolution is also growing in this population.Although divorce could impact immigrants' health status, it is unclear whether they have difficulties accessing healthcare and medical services.Thus, we examined whether divorce in married immigrants is independently associated with access to healthcare services.A retrospective analysis of 11,778 adults who participated in the 2018 National Multicultural Family Survey.We used three different covariate adjustment methods (multivariate logistic regression, inverse probability of treatment weighting, 1:1 greedy propensity score matching) to examine the association between divorce and access to healthcare services after accounting for various demographic and clinical characteristics.Overall, 5.8% (n = 691) of married immigrants reported a history of divorce.The divorce group included 107 (15.5%) males and 584 (84.5%) females, with an average age of 45.17 years (SD = 10.9).The non-divorced group included 1992 males (18.0%) and 9095 (82.0%) females, with an average age of 39.1 years (SD = 10.5).After propensity score matching, all variables were balanced (all p>0.05).Individuals who experienced divorce were more likely to have difficulties in healthcare service access than those who did not experience divorce (adjusted odds ratio 1.423, 95% CI [1.075, 1.882]).Our findings revealed that divorce increased the risk of limited healthcare services among immigrants in Korea.Healthcare policymakers should be aware of the healthcare access issues in this minority population.In addition, to improve the lifestyles of minority populations, it is necessary to study their overall lives.

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AWARENESS TO SOCIAL ACTION: THE ROLE OF DEMENTIA FRIENDS IN SUSTAINING DEMENTIA INCLUSIVENESS Bonnie Burman, and Martha Williman, Ohio Council for Cognitive Health, New Albany, Ohio, United States

Session 4330 (Paper) Aging and Health and Social Services COMPARISON OF ASSOCIATION BETWEEN DIVORCE AND ACCESS TO HEALTHCARE SERVICES AMONG MARRIED IMMIGRANTS Suyeong
Bae, 1 James Graham, 2 Sanghun Nam, 1 and Ickpyo Hong, 1 1.Yonsei University, Wonju, Kangwon-do, Republic of Korea, 2. Colorado State University, Colorado State University, Colorado, United States