A $250,000 grant has been awarded to a Rocky Mount-based nonprofit agency to provide innovative respite care projects to help those in Nash, Edgecombe and Wilson counties caring for those with dementia.
The funding is for The Wright’s Center, which is at the southwest corner of Raleigh Boulevard and Grace Street just southwest of downtown. The center provides daytime health care for senior citizens and disabled adults.
The funding is part of $20 million in grant funding available nationally via the Alzheimer’s Association, which is based in Chicago and is the leading voluntary health organization in Alzheimer’s-related care, support and research.
The Wright’s Center is the only organization in North Carolina and one of only 21 to be chosen from among 200 applicants nationwide to receive such funding. The source of the overall multi-million-dollar grant is from a division of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
Respite care is a reference to temporarily providing time off for caregivers.
Wright’s Center Executive Director Doris Howington, in a teleconference recently, said that she was at her home taking the day off but keeping track of her email when she saw a message notifying her that the $250,000 grant had been awarded.
Howington said that immediate thought was, “Thank you, Jesus. Thank you, Jesus.”
Howington also said that her other immediate thought was gratitude for both the Alzheimer’s Association and Bridget Phifer, who helped prepare the application for the grant. Phifer is the CEO of the downtown Rocky Mount-based Living Better Life community development organization.
Howington said that she found out about the availability of such funding from the Area Agency on Aging, which supports programs addressing the needs of older adults.
Louise Coggins, a longtime psychotherapist who chairs The Wright’s Center board of directors, said in the teleconference late last week of the center receiving the grant, “We were thrilled.”
Coggins also cited what she sees as Howington’s continued advocacy for the vulnerable in the community and the surrounding area, along with Howington’s ability to find these types of options and programs and bring this money into one of the needier counties in the state.
The Wright’s Center, in a news release, said that Nash, Edgecombe and Wilson counties have more than 5,000 people living with Alzheimer’s Disease or related dementia.
The center also said that in Nash County, an estimated 15 percent of those ages 65 or older have Alzheimer’s or related dementia, which places the county fifth in this statistic among North Carolina’s 100 counties. The center said that the statewide average is 11.6 percent.
The center also said that about 1,600 people in Edgecombe County are affected by Alzheimer’s.
Elaine Williams, who also serves on the center’s board and who was sitting in on the teleconference, said this was a much-needed grant, and that she was elated to hear the news.
“It’s just a blessing,” Williams said.
Phifer in a recent phone interview, said that she and Howington were working together on a different grant application and that she asked Howington whether she could help with securing a grant for the center.
Phifer said that she “absolutely” got to know Howington and her team well during the application process and that Howington and her team are determined people.
A 12-month program for The Wright’s Center is going to result from the $250,000 grant.
The first three months of the program calls for launching a meal delivery service, installing monitoring systems, starting physical therapy sessions and installing an accessible walk-in tub.
More specifically, the meal delivery service calls for a partnership with Heart to Home Meals to deliver meal plans tailored to the dietary needs of dementia patients, with the plan being to start serving meals to at least 20 of the patients in their respective residences.
The monitoring systems calls for having Smart Caregiver Safety Buddies sensor pads in rest areas of patients’ residences to prevent them from wandering away and to reduce their risk of falling.
The therapy sessions are going to be in collaboration with the Rocky Mount Opportunities Industrialization Center, with the plan being to offer, for 10 hours a week at The Wright’s Center, physical therapy sessions tailored to the needs of the patients. The OIC seeks to help provide residents with employment training and health care.
The walk-in tub is going to be at The Wright’s Center so that the patients can bathe safely and with ease and comfort.
The next three months of the program calls for expanding services and having community engagement.
More specifically, those next three months call for extending the reach of the meal delivery service to 35 patients.
Those next three months also call for implementing It’s Never 2 Late touch screen systems at The Wright’s Center to provide the dementia patients with interactive activities and virtual travel experiences, which in turn provides cognitive stimulation and engagement.
Community engagement calls for having events to raise awareness about the center’s services, to provide educational materials in multiple languages, to offer sliding scale fees and to help with transportation.
The final three months are going to include collecting and analyzing data to maintain accurate and up-to-date patient information.
Those final three months also are going to include preparing progress reports to show the effectiveness of the program and guide continuous improvement efforts.
Additionally, Howington said that the $250,000 grant is going to enable her to hire two additional full-time employees.
The Wright’s Center has long been a funded regional United Way partner, and regional United Way Executive Director Ginny Mohrbutter, in an email, expressed excitement that the center received the $250,000 grant.
“So many of our families provide dementia care to their loved ones, and it certainly can take a tremendous toll on them,” Mohrbutter said. “I know from first-hand experience after helping care for my mother, who had dementia, and I wish we had the support that The Wright’s Center will be able to provide.”
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