The Alzheimer's Association supports state legislation aimed at raising public awareness and understanding of cognitive decline, Alzheimer's disease and dementia by incorporating information about the disease into existing public health outreach programs.

House Bill 1082 calls for the state Department of Health and aging to create an education program for primary care providers that will highlight the value of an early diagnosis and provide families with tools necessary to assist in the detection, diagnosis and care planning referral.

Primary care providers would receive training to interact with patients with those mental health disorders, make diagnoses, make specialist referrals and help with care planning, said Jen Ebersole, director of Pennsylvania government affairs for the Alzheimer's Association.

“The Department of Health would work with the Department of Aging to pull it all together,” Ebersole said.

The bill, which was approved by the state House of Representatives in June and currently is before the Senate appropriations committee awaiting further action, does not address emergency response to incidents involving people with mental illness.

However, the association believes standard training should be provided to police, emergency medical services and fire departments. Training is especially important for police because they often are the first to arrive at the scene of a mental health incident.

“First responders are often called to provide assistance. They face a lot of obstacles. A training standard for law enforcement should help them understand behavior, symptoms and why they happen to help them decide an appropriate response.

“Effective communications to communicate with someone with Alzheimer's and understanding approaching someone with symptoms could help assist to de-escalate behavior and get a better response,” Ebersole said.

The association operates a 24-hour hotline that people living with someone suffering from Alzheimer's and care providers can call for help to de-escalate a situation, find support groups, and get general information and education resources. The hotline is 800-272-3900.