Adult Day Care Center Scholarship Program

In April of 1997, Alzheimer's of Central Alabama (ACA) hosted a Garden Art Party and Auction to raise money for dementia patients to receive scholarships to attend adult day care centers. The fundraiser was successful in raising approximately $40,000. We continue to have this annual fundraiser as part of our way of funding this program.

This is a unique service that no other agency or organization is offering in the state of Alabama. ACA was established in 1992, by a group of family and professional caregivers hoping to improve the quality of life for some of Alabama's 84,000 Alzheimer's patients and their caregivers. The Scholarship Program is ACA's first "direct service" program.

We are proud to have raised money to initiate this program, but with our funding the program will be modest. Our Board of Directors and the Patient and Caregiver Services Committee have reviewed this Scholarship Program and feel that it is at least a beginning. We are dedicated to offering additional services and programs as funds become available.

ADULT DAY CARE SCHOLARSHIP PROCESS

ACA will award scholarships for dementia patients to attend adult day care centers who have agreed to participate in the program. Scholarships will be for up to $250 per month or for up to two days per week.

Eligibility Criterion:

  • Patient must reside within one of the twenty-one counties ACA serves: Bibb, Blount, Calhoun, Cleburne, Chilton, Clay, Coosa, Etowah, Fayette, Greene, Hale, Jefferson, Lamar, Pickens, Randolph, Shelby, St. Clair, Talladega, Tallapoosa, Tuscaloosa, or Walker.
  • Patients must have a dementing illness.
  • The patient must have a caregiver.

Scholarships:

  • Scholarships for up to $250.00 per month will be awarded for dementia patients to attend adult day care centers for up to two days per week.
  • The caregiver is responsible for selecting the center that best fits their patient's needs.
  • A scholarship award will be for one year, with the possibility for renewal at year's end.
  • Placements are reevaluated every six months for continued appropriateness.

Process:

  • ACA will make every effort to publicize the availability of the funds for scholarships through our newsletter. As our time and our resources allow, information will be distributed to home health agencies, social workers, case managers, support group facilitators and through the newsletter distributed to the trainers of the Dementia Education Training Program, DETA.
  • The agencies / individuals will assist caregivers in applying for the scholarships.
  • Caregivers cannot "self refer" because ACA does not have the means to verify the information on the application.
  • The referring agency/individual is asked to attempt to verify the application information, but is not held legally responsible for the information provided.
  • Currently there are fourteen participating adult day care centers.
  • A listing of all participating centers with descriptions of their services is provided in the Scholarship Application Packet.
  • Among participating centers some variation exists in services provided and degree of impairment accepted.
  • It is the responsibility of the applicant (with assistance from the referring agency/individual if needed) to contact the centers of their preference to confirm their ability to care for the patient appropriately.
  • In applying for a scholarship, a caregiver is asked to provide a summary of their finances and their psychosocial history.
  • A scholarship review committee made up of three ACA board members, who are not affiliated with an adult day care center, and two community representatives will make the selections.
  • On average, forty to fifty scholarships are awarded each year.
  • The scholarship review committee and the board of directors of ACA will review the application process and would welcome public comment on the process.
  • After this review of the process, applications would again be accepted for two months, the review committee would then select new applicants. Applications will stay on file for one year.
  • ACA will pay the day care center for the days the participant attends, under the scholarship arrangement. Payment will be mailed the first week of each month for the previous month.

Below you can print the application form for the scholarship program. The ACA Scholarship committee will review your application at their next scheduled meeting. Following their review, you will be notified by mail of their decision. If you have any questions, please call the ACA office. We look forward to being of assistance to you.

Please note that you need Adobe Acrobat Reader to print the application. If you do not have Adobe Acrobat please download it by clicking on the "Get Adobe Acrobat" button below. It's FREE!

PRINT APPLICATION

 

ACA | P.O. Box 2273 | Birmingham, Al 35201 | (205) 871-7970 | (205) 871-7355 (fax) | email: aca@alzca.org