Dementia Friendly Ventura County is designed to help educate the public.

A new movement was introduced to Ventura County as the Ventura County Area Agency on Aging, the Alzheimer’s Association, and other partnering agencies rolled out Dementia Friendly Ventura County to provide better service to local residents living with dementia and to their caregivers. Initial efforts are targeting local businesses with a challenge to become Dementia Friendly.

Borne out of the 2015 White House Conference on Aging to address the national and global epidemic of Alzheimer’s disease and dementia, Dementia Friendly Ventura County is designed to help educate the public about having understanding, tolerance, and patience and to advocate for the growing number of older adults with the disease. Current efforts are geared toward having Ventura County businesses complete either an online or in-person Dementia Friendly @Work Training to officially become Dementia Friendly. Businesses that complete the required registration as well as the training will be certified as Dementia Friendly and will receive a sticker and poster to display at their place of business.

Alzheimer’s Disease accounts for 60-80 percent of dementia cases and currently impacts an estimated 610,000 Californians, a number projected to grow to 840,000 by 2025. The goals of DFVC are to create a county where persons with dementia and Alzheimer’s disease are valued and respected, feel safe, and their caregivers are supported; to educate and inform all entities that serve the public about the unique needs of this population to better serve and support them; and to promote community awareness of the condition and how individuals and businesses can make a positive difference.

For more information, or to register to become a Dementia Friendly business, please visit www.vcaaa.org/dfvc or call (805) 477-7306.

The Ventura County Area Agency on Aging, an agency of the County of Ventura, is the principal agency in Ventura County charged with the responsibility to promote the development and implementation of a comprehensive coordinated system of care that enables older individuals, individuals with disabilities, and their caregivers to live in a community-based setting and to advocate for the needs of those 60 years of age and older in the county, providing leadership and promoting citizen involvement in the planning process as well as in the delivery of services.

“Listing the purpose for which the medication is prescribed is very helpful.”

The California Senior Legislature (CSL) adjourned its 38th Annual Legislative Session and announced the Top Ten State Legislative Proposals and Top Federal proposals earlier this week. Members will advocate diligently during the 2019 legislative session to have state lawmakers carry and support these priorities.

The following were listed as the top ten State Legislative proposals:

AP-18: Labeling of Prescription Drugs
This measure would require physicians and surgeons to include the purpose for which the medication is prescribed on all prescriptions, unless the patient requests that this information be omitted.

AP-2 Transportation: Seniors’ & Disabled Individuals’ Access to Transportation to Medical Services
This measure would authorize the use of moneys in the electric program investment charge to fund grant programs in counties to provide transportation to nonemergency medical services for the senior and disabled populations located in rural, desert, and mountain areas through the use of energy renewable vehicles.

SP-10 Financial Elder Abuse: Mandated Reporting
This measure would amend the definition of “Mandated Reporters of Suspected Financial Abuse of an Elder or Dependent Adult” to include the officers and employees of businesses licensed under the Money Transmission Act for making wire or money transfers and that would increase penalties, including providing for full reimbursement of losses.

SP-7 Veterans Housing: Affordable Rental Housing
This measure would establish a rental housing assistance program and would require the Department of Veterans Affairs to coordinate access to affordable housing with existing State and Federal Veterans services.

AP-7 Fall Safe Housing
This measure would amend the Building Homes and Jobs Act to ensure that specific falls prevention structural features designed to prevent falls and facilitate aging in place are built into new housing using funds generated by the Act.

AP-8 Affordable Housing for the Elderly
This measure would, for the purpose of meeting housing element goals under the Planning and Zoning Law, classify housing units participating in a home-sharing arrangement in which at least one of the occupants is an elderly person who qualifies as a person of low or moderate income, as defined, as very low income households.

SP-4 Dental Insurance
This measure would memorialize the Legislature and the Governor to enact legislation that would require the Department of Insurance to commission a study to determine whether requiring Medi-Cal and private dental insurance plans to provide increased dental coverage at low cost for seniors would result in lower overall costs to the state for emergency room visits and inpatient hospital treatment.

AP-17 Electric Vehicle Charging Stations
This measure would require any facility that provides electric vehicle charging stations for public use or common use to provide at least one van accessible station regardless of when the electric vehicle charging stations were added to the facility.

AP-15 Homelessness: Seniors & Persons with Disabilities
This measure would propose that a count of the number of homeless individuals include the number of seniors and individuals with disabilities that are homeless.

AP-3 Travel Safety
This measure would require all hotels, motels, inns, and bed and breakfasts to install grab bars in the tub and shower areas and nonskid surfaces on the tub and shower floors in all rooms available for public accommodation.
The following were identified as the Top Federal Legislative proposals:

AFP-2 Medicare Durable Medical Equipment: Grab Bars
This measure would memorialize the Federal Government to adopt appropriate regulations for the Medicare Program, or to enact appropriate legislation, that would add grab bars to the list of covered durable medical equipment under the Medicare Program, upon an evaluation by the Medicare Program to demonstrate that grab bars meet the requirements of durable medical equipment.

SFP-2 Medicare: Penalties
This measure would memorialize the Congress and the President to adopt appropriate regulations for the Medicare Program, or to enact appropriate legislation, that would prohibit Medicare late enrollment penalties related to the enrollment for Medicare parts A, B, and D.

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MORE INFORMATION CONTACT:
For more information contact Janice Bailey, CSL Staff Services Manager, at (916) 552- 8056 or [email protected].