LifePath has been awarded $125,000 from the Alzheimer’s Association Center for Dementia Respite Innovation (CDRI) to enhance the quality and availability of dementia-specific respite care for people living with dementia and their caregivers in Franklin County and the North Quabbin area.
LifePath is one of 41 recipients chosen to receive grant funding from more than 200 applicants across the country. Funds will be used to enhance programming at the Community Engagement Center (CEC), a social day program designed to reduce social isolation and support individuals living with dementia, while offering respite, coaching, and planning support to caregivers. The CEC provides a vibrant, inclusive space where participants engage in social, cognitive, and creative activities co-designed to honor their voices, strengths, and lived experiences.
“LifePath is excited to be included in this elite group of community-based service providers,” said Gary Yuhas, Executive Director. “Caring for someone living with dementia can be overwhelming. This grant will help us provide much-needed dementia-specific respite care and services for people living with dementia and their caregivers. We look forward to partnering with Councils on Aging and Senior Centers to bring programming from the CEC into the community.”
Located at the Corporate Center in Greenfield, the Community Engagement Center welcomes two groups of 15 participants for two full-day sessions each week. “Words cannot express how important the program is for me and my husband and for all the participants in the program. There are so many people dealing with family members with dementia, trying to hold their lives together through the journey. We know what is coming, but don’t know how soon. This program makes it possible for us to carry on,” said Bonnie Grant, a caregiver who has been with the program since it opened in October, 2023.
LifePath’s 2025 needs assessment reinforced on-going demand for respite care. Of 545 older adults surveyed, 95 were care partners and over half cared for someone with memory loss. Respite was identified by 65% of caregivers as their top need.
“In addition to providing more intergenerational and community-based programming at the CEC, we look forward to developing a peer-to-peer model of respite that would allow individuals to arrange for respite care using a new on-line platform,” said Donna Bigelow, CEC Program Manager. “We are in the early stages of development. We also look forward to sharing information, resources, and programming with Senior Centers and others who are looking to provide respite in their communities. This is an exciting time.”
In conjunction with the grant, LifePath will also receive online training and ongoing technical assistance from the CDRI to ensure respite services are dementia-capable and to support sustainability. The CDRI will also collect data and evaluate the impact of these innovative projects from all grant recipients to inform public policy.
“We congratulate LifePath on its grant and look forward to working with its team to help enhance respite care services for local dementia caregivers,” said Sam Fazio, Ph.D., Vice President of Care and Support Programs and Research, Alzheimer’s Association. “We intend to gain insights from each respite program we fund, ultimately developing a catalog of programs, tools, and resources that will be easily accessible to interested caregivers and care providers.”
The Alzheimer’s Association created the CDRI in 2024 after receiving a $25 million grant from the Administration for Community Living (ACL), a division of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Over the next four years, the CDRI will provide $25 million in grant funding to local respite providers and organizations to enhance the quality and availability of respite care nationwide. Visit alz.org/cdri to see the full list of this year’s grant recipients.
Funding disclosure
This project is supported by the Administration for Community Living (ACL), U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), as part of a financial assistance award totaling $13,261,685 with 75 percent funded by ACL/HHS and $3,285,728 with 25 percent funded by non-government source(s). The contents are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily represent the official views of, nor an endorsement, by ACL/HHS, or the U.S. Government.
