What is an Alzheimer's Day Care Resource Center (ADCRC)?

The California Department of Aging designated and awarded grant funding to thirty six (36) Alzheimer's Day Care Resource Centers (ADCRC) to provide specialized day programs for individuals with Alzheimer's disease or related dementias.

Although the ADCRCs no longer receive $60,000 annually in grant funds from the State of California, due to the state's budget crisis, many of these original designated sites continue to target persons in the moderate to severe stages of the disease. By meeting the physical and psychosocial needs of people with Alzheimer's disease ADCRCs can help to prevent acute care costs and nursing home placement.

ADCRCs have developed a decade's worth of experience and expertise in community-based care for persons with dementia and caregivers. They have served as a model for other states and continue to serve as model programs in California.

ADCRCs are required to:

• Provide support groups and respite for caregivers
• Give expert assessment and care planning
• Offer professional and lay training
• Provide a safe, supervised, structured environment
• Collect data for research
• Increase public awareness
• Innovate

The goals of the program are to:

• Save public dollars by preventing or delaying placement into a nursing home or care in more expensive settings
• Maintain optimal functioning of each individual's physical and mental health over the inevitable course of the disease
• Enable older persons with dementia to remain living at home for as long as possible
• Provide regular respite from 24-hour care responsibility for caregiver

Current ADCRC settings include licensed Adult Day Health Care (ADHC) centers and Community Care Adult Day Program (ADP) facilities.