ALASKA MENTAL HEALTH TRUST AUTHORITY
Under the terms of the Mental Health Trust Agreement, the Alaska Commission on Aging is the planning and advocacy body for those Alaskans affected by Alzheimer’s Disease and Related Disorders (ADRD) and their caregivers. ADRD can generally be described as a decline in several areas of cognitive ability sufficiently severe to interfere with daily functioning. The ACoA also advocates for the needs of other older beneficiaries of the Alaska Mental Health Trust Authority (AMHTA), including seniors with mental illness, substance misuse problems, and/or developmental disabilities.
A significant number of the elderly population is in serious crisis. The critical needs of this group cannot be met by the limited senior services infrastructure. This group of elders often experiences crises resulting from a complex interplay of mental illness, dementia, substance misuse, and medical problems. There is also a hidden population of elderly who live alone and have ADRD. At times, married couples both experience ADRD and/or mental illness that render them unable to seek help. These seniors often go unnoticed and deteriorate and are discovered in severe states of self-neglect. By the time seniors in critical need are discovered, there is often no alternative other than hospitalization and/or nursing home placement.
The Commission and the Division of Senior Services work with the AMHTA, the Alaska Mental Health Board, the Advisory Board on Alcoholism and Drug Abuse, the Governor’s Council on Disabilities and Special Education, and the Department of Health and Social Services to address these problems.
During FY00, funding from the Alaska Mental Health Trust Authority assisted the Commission and the Division of Senior Services to explore innovation in several areas of service delivery:
All of these innovative projects help to further out understanding of the needs of vulnerable adults and elders and to design a service delivery system that is more responsive to their needs.