NY State Governor Cuomo's Alzheimer's Caregiver Support Initiative Awards $7.5 Million to New York City's PSS

Grant Will Fund Growth of Group's "Circle of Care"

News provided by

Nov 12, 2015, 11:45 ET

NEW YORK, Nov. 12, 2015 /PRNewswire/ -- PSS, a local leader in services and caregiver support for older New Yorkers (www.pssusa.org), said that it has been awarded $7.5 million as part of Governor Andrew Cuomo's $67.5 million Alzheimer's Caregiver Support Initiative. It is one of nine state agencies, including just three in New York City, to receive such funding. Announced last week in Albany, the five-year grant will enable PSS Circle of Care, which has been supporting family caregivers in Manhattan and the Bronx with information, individual and family counseling, support groups, educational training and respite since 2003, to expand its program to all five boroughs.

The New York City chapter of the Alzheimer's Association estimates that more than 250,000 New Yorkers are living with Alzheimer's disease and other related dementias. More than half continue to live at home, most with a friend or family member providing care. According to PSS Executive Director Rimas Jasin, the Circle of Care model for Alzheimer's patients is designed to reach more than 2,500 caregivers each year with a safety net of services including Circle of Care consultants at Caregiving Stations throughout the city. The organization will promote the program through its toll-free hotline (1-866-665-1713), its City-wide network of professional, employer and not-for-profit organizations and via its own marketing and digital communications efforts.

PSS expects to add at least 20 full-time staff devoted specifically to the Alzheimer's caregiver program, Jasin noted. "This grant is an incredible opportunity to provide our own special PSS brand of support to a much larger community. We have already begun adopting our Circle of Care model for current clients, and have seen excellent results," he said.

About PSS: Circle of Care is a program of PSS, a multi-service agency founded in 1962. Today, PSS runs eight senior centers, two senior and intergenerational residences, a broad network of family and kinship caregiver services, the Young Adult Success Program (YASP) connecting young adults being raised by their grandparents with mentors and programs to empower their success, and Coming of Age NYC, to help New Yorkers over 50 live a life with passion and purpose. For more information please visit www.pssusa.org and like us on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/pssnyc.

CONTACT: Rimas Jasin
[email protected]
212-874-6633 x 23

SOURCE PSS