Rep. Howitt supports legislation to improve Alzheimer’s and dementia care, training and awareness

BOSTON – State Representative Steven S. Howitt (R-Seekonk) recently supported legislation to improve Alzheimer’s and dementia care in Massachusetts through a public awareness campaign and new training requirements to help guide municipal and state police, firefighters and EMS personnel in their interactions with individuals with cognitive impairment issues.

House Bill 5613, An Act to improve care and prepare for the new era of Alzheimer’s and dementia, was engrossed by the House of Representatives on July 29 on a vote of 156-0. The bill has drawn support from organizations including the Alzheimer’s Association, the Massachusetts Coalition of Police, and the Boston Public Health Commission.

Under the House proposal, police, firefighters, and EMS employees will be required to undergo at least 2 hours of initial training on how to interact with individuals with Alzheimer’s or other dementias, and not less than 1 hour of biannual in-service education covering dementia training. Representative Howitt said the training will highlight ways to identify dementia symptoms, techniques for understanding these symptoms, how to identify and report incidents of abuse and neglect, and the protocols for contacting caregivers. Police will also receive training instructions on identifying alternatives to using physical restraint.

To help improve the state’s handling of dementia care, the House bill creates the new position of Director of Dementia Care and Coordination, which will fall under the secretary of health and human services’ appointing authority. Their duties will include coordinating and updating the Alzheimer’s disease state plan, public awareness efforts around dementia, reviewing dementia training requirements for public facing employees, ensuring hospitals are dementia-capable, and gathering data related to the impact of Alzheimer’s disease in the Commonwealth.

Representative Howitt said House Bill 5613 calls for the creation of a public awareness campaign on brain health, Alzheimer’s disease, and other dementias, which will highlight warning signs of dementia, the benefits of early detection, emerging treatment options, ways to reduce the risk of cognitive decline, and information on available dementia care coordination services. The public awareness campaign will be developed by the Department of Public Health, in collaboration with the Executive Office of Aging and Independence, the state’s advisory council on Alzheimer's disease research and treatment, and other stakeholders.

Representative Howitt noted that the House legislation also requires hospitals to develop and implement an operational plan for recognizing patients with dementia or delirium in acute-care settings, which will be updated every five years and submitted to DPH for approval. These plans must focus on details such as: providing a dementia- and delirium-appropriate environment; symptom management and treatment protocols; transition planning to improve and provide safe admissions and discharges; advance care planning information; and caregiver communication and coordination.

House Bill 5613 will now move to the Senate for its consideration.