BOLD Public Health Programs to Address Alzheimer’s Disease and Related Dementias
The BOLD Infrastructure for Alzheimer’s Act was passed into law on December 31, 2018 (P.L. 115-406) and amends the Public Health Service Act (Section 398A; 42 U.S.C. 280c-3-4). The activities outlined in BOLD are designed to create a uniform national public health infrastructure with a focus on issues such as increasing early detection and diagnosis, risk reduction, prevention of avoidable hospitalizations, and supporting dementia caregiving. It’s designed to promote implementation of CDC’s Healthy Brain Initiative State and Local Public Health Partnerships to Address Dementia: The 2018-2023 Road Map and the Healthy Brain Initiative Road Map for Indian Country.
The South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control is one of the eighteen state health departments funded to promote a strong public health approach to Alzheimer’s disease and related dementias (ADRD). Recipients are focused on changing systems, environments and policies to promote risk reduction, to improve early diagnosis, to prevent and manage comorbidities, and to avoid hospitalizations. To accomplish this public health approach to Alzheimer’s disease, recipients are using data to set priorities, to develop public health actions, to address social determinants of health, and to provide support for caregivers who take care of people with dementias.
Core Capacity recipients will be creating statewide dementia coalitions and developing or updating ADRD strategic plans for their jurisdictions using the Road Maps as a guide. Enhanced recipients already have these things in place and will be implementing ADRD activities in line with their strategic plan and the Road Map actions. Through the BOLD grant, DISAP will work with the Alzheimer’s Disease and Related Dementias (ADRD) Resource Coordination Center Advisory Council to develop and implement a statewide strategic plan and build upon the “Take Brain Health to Heart” educational campaign.
BOLD Program Specifics
Length of project: Two-year CDC cooperative agreement, 9/30/2021-9/29/2023
Level of funding: CORE
Project goals:
- Form a statewide ADRD coalition-ARCC
- Work with the ARCC to develop a statewide ADRD strategic plan based on the Healthy Brain Initiative, State and Local Public Health Partnerships to Address Dementia: The 2018-2023 Road Map. Specifically:
- E-1 - Educate the public about brain health, risk reduction, and early detection
- E-2 - Integrate best available evidence about brain health and cognitive decline risk factors into existing health communications
- P-1 - Promote the use of effective interventions to protect brain health
- W-1 - Educate public health and healthcare professionals on sources on reliable info about brain health
- W-3 - Educate public health professionals on best available evidence on brain health
- M-1 - Implement BRFSS Cognitive Decline (2022) and Caregiving modules (2021)
- M-3 - Use data gleaned from surveillance strategies to inform public health program and policy response
- Provider education
- Build upon the previous “Take Brain Health to Heart” educational and communications campaign.
