Maude’s Awards honor those caring for dementia patients
Contact: Steven Lee, (210) 450-3823, lees22@uthscsa.edu
SAN ANTONIO, Oct. 2, 2024 – The Caring for the Caregiver Program (C4CP) of the School of Nursing at The University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio (UT Health San Antonio) has earned a national award for its comprehensive education and support for families living with dementia.
The 5TH Annual Maude’s Awards were announced in Seattle, rewarding innovations that enrich the quality of life for persons living with Alzheimer’s disease and related dementias, as well as their care partners. The award was created in 2019 by Richard Ferry, co-founder of management consulting firm Korn Ferry International, to honor his wife who was diagnosed with dementia six years earlier.
“Our Caring for the Caregiver Program was established in response to community-identified critical unmet needs to support family caregivers,” said Roxana Delgado, PhD, MS, professor and director of the program. “This mission-driven, multi-service program provides education to support the transition into the caregiving role. The education and skills-training approach enhances knowledge and builds caregiver confidence, and capacity in performing complex care tasks.”
Some of the program’s most popular services include:
- Health Digital Literacy for Caregivers workshops, in which caregivers learn more about the ways various assistive technologies can benefit them in their roles
- Memory Café, a comfortable, quarterly social gathering that allows people experiencing memory loss and loved ones to connect, socialize and build new support networks
- Dementia Friendly San Antonio Advisory Council, a communitywide grassroots initiative led by an advisory board in partnership with Caring for the Caregiver
- Essentials of Caregiving monthly educational series
- Virtual Dementia Training, which creates a window into the world of dementia through individualized, experiential learning
UT Health San Antonio’s program was one of three organizations awarded nationally, joining ARTZ Philadelphia and Alzheimer’s Los Angeles, with each also earning a monetary award of $25,000. Four individuals also were recognized, and with awards of $5,000 apiece, and two organizations earned honorable mentions.
Caring for the Caregiver won for the category, “Supporting Care Partners,” providing education, training or support for care partners of persons living with dementia.
Ferry continues his journey as a care partner and tireless advocate discovering and sharing innovations that speak to the challenges and needs of persons living with dementia and their care partners.
Maude’s Awards are for achievement, as opposed to grants for future programs. The intent is to reward programs that have demonstrated success. Nominated programs must have been active in 2022 or the year prior. If the program is currently active or recurring, it must have completed one year of operation, or enough time to demonstrate success.
For more information on the Maude’s Awards, visit: https://maudesawards.org
For more information on the School of Nursing’s Caring for the Caregiver Program, visit: https://utcaregivers.org/
The University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio (UT Health San Antonio) is one of the country’s leading health science universities and is designated as a Hispanic-Serving Institution by the U.S. Department of Education. With missions of teaching, research, patient care and community engagement, its schools of medicine, nursing, dentistry, health professions, graduate biomedical sciences and public health have graduated more than 43,886 alumni who are leading change, advancing their fields and renewing hope for patients and their families throughout South Texas and the world. To learn about the many ways “We make lives better®,” UTHealthSA.org.
The UT Health San Antonio School of Nursing offers five academic programs, consisting of the BSN, DNP and PhD degrees and specialty certificates, and is dedicated to fostering diversity, equity and inclusion in the nursing profession. First-generation college students represent one-third of its enrollment. The School of Nursing also operates a growing patient-care practice that provides primary and acute care by nurse practitioners, both on campus and at a variety of community partner sites. To learn more, visit https://www.uthscsa.edu/academics/nursing.
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