Alzheimer's Foundation of America Awards Excellence in Dementia Care Status to First Adult Day Center, More Long-Term Car...( NEW YORK Dec. 19 -- The Alzheime...),Health

NEW YORK, Dec. 19 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The Alzheimer's Foundation of America (AFA) recently awarded its "Excellence in Care Dementia Program of Distinction" status to the nation's first adult day center and three more assisted living facilities that have achieved AFA's nationwide standard of excellence for facilities that provide care to individuals with Alzheimer's disease or related illnesses.

The Salvation Army Serendipity Adult Day Center, Anchorage, AK, is the first adult day center to receive the distinction. Also awarded Excellence in Care status are the memory care units within these facilities: Warwick Forest, Newport News, VA; The Catholic Care Center, Bel Aire, KS; and The Birches, Clarendon Hills, IL.

Last June, The 80th Street Residence, an assisted living residence in Manhattan, and the dementia care program at Ozanam Hall, a skilled geriatric and short-term rehabilitation facility in Bayside, NY achieved the status.

"Our hope is that Excellence in Care makes a bold statement -- re-affirming the quality of care these dementia care settings provide and encouraging other settings nationwide to reach for this standard of excellence," said Eric J. Hall, AFA's chief executive officer.

Excellence in Care is believed to be the first national program involving comprehensive standards, on-site evaluation and consultation to promote continual performance improvement for dementia care settings, such as assisted living and skilled nursing facilities, continuum of care residential communities, and adult day programs.

The voluntary standards are part of AFA's mission to raise the bar on dementia care in the United States, and reflect what AFA believes to be the essential components of any quality dementia care program. It also provides families with a means by which to measure facilities.

AFA introduced its groundbreaking Excellence in Care initiative in November 2006, after designing the com
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