Indigenous Knowledge Informed Comprehensive Dementia Care Project - In response to Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA) HHS-2023-IHS-ALZ-0001, Seattle Indian Health Board (SIHB) requests $199,881 in Year 1 to implement the Indigenous Knowledge Informed Comprehensive Dementia Care Project. SIHB is a Federally Qualified Health Center and an Urban Indian Organization (UIO) with a service area of Seattle-King County, the most populous county in Washington State. This program will increase the availability of culturally attuned, timely, comprehensive, and holistic dementia care at Seattle Indian Health Board and share lessons learned with other UIOs. This project responds to needs for AI/AN Elders in Seattle/King County as described by SIHB’s data arm, Urban Indian Heath Institute (UIHI), which published a Needs Assessment for Urban Disabled and Elder Natives in 2018. The report states King County’s population of AI/AN Elders aged 65 and older is projected to double by 2030. The same report found Elders experience age-related conditions at earlier ages than the general population. Memory problems were the most common health condition among SIHB’s Needs Assessment respondents at 54.9%. Two-thirds of males (67.6%) indicated having memory problems compared to 47.5% of females. Half of other genders had memory problems. The project goal is to develop a comprehensive Indigenous knowledge-informed system of dementia care serving AI/AN relatives in Seattle/King County, which responds to the needs and strengths of urban AI/AN Elders, caregivers, and Urban Indian health care providers/UIOs. The project includes the following five objectives, which are aligned with the five pillars of comprehensive dementia care: (1) Awareness and recognition: By the end of the project period, SIHB will have gatekeeper training that is culturally adapted and tested with AI/ANs to teach how to identify warning signs of dementia and find care/services/resources; (2) Timely and accurate diagnosis: By the end of the project period, SIHB will have a diagnostic tool for dementia that is culturally adapted and tested with AI/AN Elders; (3) Multidisciplinary assessment: By the end of the project period, six staff will be trained in multidisciplinary assessment and linkages to care for relatives with memory concerns; (4) Management and referral: By the end of the project period, SIHB will document a workflow for relatives with dementia symptoms/risk factors, which outlines how to integrate dementia care with Traditional Indian Medicine services, behavioral health, dental, Elders services, and social services; and (5) Caregiver support: By the end of the project period, SIHB will have identified, culturally adapted, and tested a caregiver support model. Throughout the project, we will develop and share tools, processes, trainings, reports, and lessons learned with UIOs, Tribes, and Tribal Organizations through UIHI and the Urban Indian Health Network. We anticipate some of the materials and tools we will develop will include: (1) A culturally attuned dementia diagnostic tool; (2) Pamphlets, fact sheets, and posters on dementia topics; (3) A culturally attuned gatekeeper training; (4) Trainings for clinical and auxiliary staff; (5) Indigenous Knowledge Informed Dementia Care System Plan document; and (6) Reports and presentations on lessons learned.
