HealthCare Interactive (HCI), a Minneapolis-based national provider of online dementia care training programs, launched its latest training program—CARES Activities of Daily Living (ADLs)—last month at the American Health Care Association/National Center for Assisted Living (AHCA/NCAL) sixth annual Quality Symposium. HCI’s training programs have been recommended by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services and are the basis of the Alzheimer’s Association dementia care certifications.

CARES ADLs is meant to help caregivers make routine tasks, such as getting ready for the day, more pleasurable for people living with dementia.

HCI’s award-winning, self-paced programs—delivered either online or via DVDs or CD-ROMs—are videos that feature interactive activities, interviews with nationally known dementia experts, and simulations of real-life situations facing caregivers. The programs require only basic computer or DVD skills.

“With one of our national Quality Initiative goals being the reduction of antipsychotic medications in long term care centers, the CARES ADLs program is an essential tool to find innovative ways to care for those living with dementia,” said David Gifford, MD, AHCA’s senior vice president of quality and regulatory affairs and a geriatrician.

“AHCA/NCAL is honored to partner with the Alzheimer’s Association and HealthCare Interactive to bring this exciting new program to nursing and assisted living professionals around the country at our quality event of the year.”

To develop the programs, HCI collaborated with nationally known Alzheimer’s and dementia researchers at organizations such as the Alzheimer’s Association, the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, National Institutes of Health, and numerous universities such as Duke and Emory.

John Hobday, HCI chief executive officer and founder, says, “This is not a one-stage-fits-all disease, and approaches change depending upon the person living with the illness. What I like the best about this program is that it allows staff members to actually see the progression of the disease, from normal thinking to complete dependence.”