The Long Term Care Community Coalition has released the Dementia Care Advocacy Toolkit.

The project reflects two years of work supported by the Fan Fox and Leslie R. Samuels Foundation to help engage families and ombudsmen with information and tools to improve care.

“Approximately 40 percent of people who reach age 65 will need nursing home care at some point,” said Richard Mollot, LTCCC’s executive director. “The majority of those residents are people with dementia.” 

The goal is to continue to reduce off-label use of antipsychotics for those with dementia. The toolkit is available in the Learning Center at www.nursinghome411.org. It includes user-friendly fact sheets that include Appropriate Dementia Care Practices, Resident & Family Recordkeeping, Standards for Nursing Home Services, and Resident Dignity & Quality of Life.