Rep. Williams Working On New Alzheimer’s Care Bill

Representative Ryan Williams is working on a new bill to assist in Alzheimer’s care.

He said that it would create respite care for family members taking care of loved ones at home who have been diagnosed with Alzheimer’s.

“To provide assistance to those families for respite care for three or four hours a week per month,” Williams said. “With the idea that they can catch up on the bills, go do the shopping for their loved ones and actually get some assistance.”

Williams said that this bill serves as a three-year pilot program. He said that a similar initiative in Florida was so successful, that Governor DeSantis has decided to invest another $15 million into it.

Williams said that this bill would hopefully aid in keeping those diagnosed in their homes for longer before going to long-term care facilities.

“We know that people with Alzheimer’s excel when they’re still in their family environment even though their loved one may not recognize them,” Williams said. “And so this was an opportunity to see if it works, if we could through these resources allow people to stay in their homes longer, it would save the citizens of Tennessee a dramatic amount of money because they would be able to stay at home and not put them in long-term care sooner.”

Williams said that the next steps will be to get the bill through the health subcommittee next week and then into the finance committee. He said that it would cost about $3.5 million over the next three years.

Williams said that this is a subject near and dear to his heart after losing his grandmother to Alzheimer’s about a year ago. He said that in seeing the toll it took on his family while they cared for her, he hopes it can alleviate some of that for other Tennessee families.