The Michigan Dementia Coalition is a statewide group of more than 120 individuals from nearly 65 organizations that work to improve quality of life for Michigan residents living with dementia and their families. Our Center has contributed to the work of the Coalition for several years and our very own Dr. Scott Roberts serves as Co-Chair for the Coalition.
The Coalition recently released a comprehensive Roadmap for Creating a Dementia-Capable Michigan to guide policymaking and advocacy efforts around dementia in Michigan. The publication of the Roadmap was announced on May 15 at the state capitol in Lansing as part of Older Michiganians Day.
Dr. Roberts assisted in the announcement of the plan on the capitol lawn, stating “Dementia directly affects hundreds of thousands of people within Michigan, and millions more across the country. Yet despite its profound costs, there are steps that individuals, families, local communities, and the state can take to increase quality of life for people living with dementia, address rising costs, and improve service delivery.”
Beyond co-leadership of the Coalition, our statewide research presence made our Center a key resource for the Coalition’s Roadmap development and continued statewide efforts to discover an intervention.
“The dementia research community in the state of Michigan is a diverse, multidisciplinary group consisting of basic scientists, clinical investigators, social and behavioral researchers, and other academic and service professionals,” Roberts said. “Together we are working across numerous institutions and settings to better understand what happens in the brain to cause dementia, identify biomarker tests for early disease identification, test new therapies via clinical trials, develop interventions to educate and support patients and family members, and much more.”
The Roadmap describes the following four key goals with strategies to make Michigan a more dementia-capable state by 2022:
- People: Promote the wellbeing and safety of people living with dementia at all ages and stages.
- Partnerships: Mobilize multisector partnerships to strengthen the service network.
- Public Health: Recognize and promote dementia as a public health priority.
- Policies: Enact policies that strengthen families, communities, and the economy.
For more information on the Coalition, the Roadmap report, or how to get involved, please visit www.midementiacoalition.org.