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.

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