Assess Home Health | Dementia Capable Communities Toolkit



Home health agencies play a critical role in a dementia capable community, from early identification to offering wellness programs and services that support independence at home.

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The information gathered here is part of the full Community Needs Assessment. Each survey question is cross-referenced to the full assessment. These questions are best investigated by someone working in home health, long term care, or social services.

Assessing Home Health Agencies for a Dementia Capable Community

Review the information and resources on the ACT on Alzheimer’s Dementia Capable Communities Toolkit website related to Health Care Develop a list of all of the home health agencies in your community. Area Agencies on Aging (AAA) and the Alzheimer’s Association may be able to help you identify many of these organizations that support people with dementia in your community.

Prioritize and determine which organizations to contact.

Identify the appropriate contact(s) in these offices, such as the executive director.

Keep track of your data sources, including who you interview and their responses to the questions in your interview.

Create a code for each interviewee, using the sector abbreviation, plus a number. For example, home health interviewees would be HH1 for first interviewee, HH2 for second, etc.

Use the Community Information Gathering - Survey/Call Script to introduce yourself and the project.

Conduct interviews.

After your information gathering, organize the data and summarize it in the Synthesizing the Assessment – Team Worksheet, which will be the basis for how your community rates its current level of activity and prioritizes what to focus on.

Interviewer/Your Name Date of Interview

Community Member/Interviewee Interviewee Code: HH

Name

Title

Address

Phone

Email

1. Have you had personal experience with someone with dementia? ☐ Yes ☐ No

Impairment Identification & Care - Section M

Identifying people with cognitive impairment is the first step toward diagnosis. Early diagnosis is important because it allows individuals and their families to plan for the future. Having a medical diagnosis opens the door to a number of resources that might not be available otherwise.

Has your organization trained its staff in early detection of dementia, caring for people with dementia and other dementia education? Rate each training type on a scale from 0 to 4, with 4 being the highest. (Q26 in full assessment)

|Training type |Rate whether training is provided |

| |Never Sometimes Always Not Applicable |

|Early detection |☐ 0 ☐ 1 ☐ 2 ☐ 3 ☐ 4 ☐ NA |

|Caring for |☐ 0 ☐ 1 ☐ 2 ☐ 3 ☐ 4 ☐ NA |

|Other dementia education |☐ 0 ☐ 1 ☐ 2 ☐ 3 ☐ 4 ☐ NA |

|Level of Current Activity |Priority for Action |

|Indicate your level of agreement with this statement: Our community |Indicate your level of agreement with this statement: Training home health staff in |

|adequately trains its home health staff in early detection of dementia, |early detection of dementia, caring for people with dementia and other dementia |

|caring for people with dementia and other dementia education. |education should be a priority for action in our community. |

|1. Strongly disagree |1. Strongly disagree |

|2. Disagree |2. Disagree |

|3. Neither agree or disagree |3. Neither agree or disagree |

|4. Agree |4. Agree |

|5. Strongly agree |5. Strongly agree |

|0. Do not know |0. Do not know |

What opportunities do you see for training staff in early detection of dementia, caring for people with dementia and other dementia education? What barriers do you see?

Wellness Programs - Section F

Which of the following wellness programs, tailored to people with dementia living outside a formal care setting, does your organization currently offer in our community? (Q12 in full assessment)

|Services tailored to people with dementia |Currently available |Which organization(s) provide |

| | |these programs? |

|Nutrition programs |☐ Yes ☐ No | |

|Physical activity programs |☐ Yes ☐ No | |

|Physical, occupational, speech therapy |☐ Yes ☐ No | |

|Other (please specify) |☐ Yes ☐ No | |

|Level of Current Activity |Priority for Action |

|Indicate your level of agreement with this statement: Our community has an|Indicate your level of agreement with this statement: Increasing the level of |

|adequate level of wellness programs tailored to people with dementia |wellness programs tailored to people with dementia living outside a formal care |

|living outside a formal care setting. |setting should be a priority for action in our community. |

|1. Strongly disagree |1. Strongly disagree |

|2. Disagree |2. Disagree |

|3. Neither agree or disagree |3. Neither agree or disagree |

|4. Agree |4. Agree |

|5. Strongly agree |5. Strongly agree |

|0. Do not know |0. Do not know |

What opportunities do you see for wellness programs tailored to people with dementia living outside a formal care setting? What barriers do you see?

Independence at Home & Risk Reduction Services - Section J

Which of the following services to help people with dementia remain independent in their homes does your organization currently offer in our community? (Q20 in full assessment)

|Services |Currently available |Which organizations provide |

| | |these services? |

|Care managers/care coordinators |☐ Yes ☐ No | |

|Home safety assessment/fall prevention program |☐ Yes ☐ No | |

|Medication management, in-home |☐ Yes ☐ No | |

|Occupational therapy (OT) and Physical therapy (PT) assessment and |☐ Yes ☐ No | |

|interventions | | |

|Personal care assistant/ |☐ Yes ☐ No | |

|home health aide | | |

|Safety programs/devices for remote location monitoring (e.g., Comfort |☐ Yes ☐ No | |

|Zone, MedicAlert + Safe Return,Project Lifesaver, Lifeline) | | |

|Other (please specify) |☐ Yes ☐ No | |

|Level of Current Activity |Priority for Action |

|Indicate your level of agreement with this statement: Our community |Indicate your level of agreement with this statement: Increasing the level of |

|currently provides an adequate level of services to help people with |services to help people with dementia remain independent in their homes should be a |

|dementia remain independent in their homes. |priority for action in our community. |

|1. Strongly disagree |1. Strongly disagree |

|2. Disagree |2. Disagree |

|3. Neither agree or disagree |3. Neither agree or disagree |

|4. Agree |4. Agree |

|5. Strongly agree |5. Strongly agree |

|0. Do not know |0. Do not know |

What opportunities do you see to provide services to help people with dementia remain independent in their homes? What barriers do you see?

General

Would you be interested in playing a greater role to help us implement this project in our community?

Suggestions:

• Serve on a coalition

• Serve on a task force or committee

• Public endorsement/testimonial

• Appoint a person to work on the project

• Donate resources, i.e., meeting space, advertising, personnel, funds, etc.

Could you suggest other organizations/groups in our community who could take part in

this project?

Are there any other suggestions or ideas that you can give me as we prepare to get this

project started?

Are there any questions you would like to ask me?

Thank you for your time and support.

Would you like me to be in touch with you again to let you know how the project is progressing and how you can best help to ensure is becoming more dementia capable? ☐ Yes ☐ No

Reference: Minnesota Department of Health, Community Health Promotion — Mobilizing Your Community to Promote Health, , viewed 6/29/12.

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Dementia Capable Communities Toolkit

Community Needs Assessment — Home Health Agency Survey

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