Dementia caregivers in Tennessee are asking, again, for state funding to give them a brief respite

Tennessee lawmakers are renewing their push to provide dementia caregivers some state help.

Tennessee would join at least a dozen states, according to the Alzheimer’s Association, in expanding respite programs to families coping with the disease.

“It’s kind of like if you take an adult-size toddler, and instead of them growing in their skills in toileting, dressing, eating, brushing their teeth…they’re actually reversing,” John Tometich said Wednesday, while holding the hand of his wife, Mary.

He’s a licensed massage therapist and the primary caregiver for his wife, who was diagnosed with early onset Alzheimer’s at age 55 nearly a decade ago. “It’s a terrific strain on caregivers,” he said.

The state help that Tometich is lobbying for would come in the form of a sitter who could watch an Alzheimer’s patient for a few hours a week — still not nearly enough to allow a family caregiver to do more than a few errands.

But any kind of break is welcomed.

“I can go for a walk. I can go in my room and stare out the window if I want to,” Barbara Bowden of Franklin said. “If I am on duty 24/7…any kind of respite, any kind of help, I will take it.”

Bowden’s husband, before moving to a nursing home, needed someone watching him so closely that she even installed an alarm on his recliner so she’d know when he stood up.

She’s the advocate leading the push in Tennessee for HB1686 / SB1749, named after her husband, Col. Thomas G. Bowden. The former Army colonel died in 2018.

The program, first proposed in 2020, is limited to just 150 participants, initially, and would cost about $600,000 a year. But in the last legislative session, the three-year pilot program didn’t find enough support.

The idea is to closely monitor whether the weekly breaks for caregivers help delay the need to move them into a pricey nursing home — a cost that is often borne by the state. In Florida, a similar program has been successful enough that the governor just added $12 million to it.

Blake Farmer WPLN News

Sen. Shane Reeves, R-Murfreesboro, is sponsoring the legislation to create a caregiver respite program to provide weekly breaks for families caring for a dementia patient.