Abramson Senior Care wins $100,000 Alzheimer’s Association grant

Abramson Senior Care of JFCS will use a $100,000 Alzheimer’s Association grant to expand dementia-specific respite care in Philadelphia. The award comes as Pennsylvania’s Alzheimer’s burden grows and the organization adds services tied to Medicare’s GUIDE model.

Why it matters: - The grant is aimed at improving respite care for people living with dementia and the caregivers who support them. - Philadelphia has 23,000 residents living with Alzheimer’s disease, part of more than 282,000 Pennsylvanians affected by the condition. - More respite options could help families manage caregiving demands and reduce strain on unpaid caregivers.

What happened: - Abramson Senior Care of Jewish Family and Children’s Service of Greater Philadelphia received a $100,000 grant from the Alzheimer’s Association Center for Dementia Respite Innovation. - The award is part of a national round that selected 34 recipients. - The funding will support the development and expansion of dementia-specific respite care services in Philadelphia. - The announcement was made Aug. 19, 2026.

The details: - The grant will help Abramson Senior Care improve the quality and availability of dementia-specific respite care for people living with dementia and their caregivers. - The organization will also receive online training and ongoing technical assistance from the CDRI. - The support is intended to make respite services dementia-capable and to help sustain the program. - The CDRI will collect data and evaluate the impact of the funded projects to inform public policy. - Abramson Senior Care is also expanding access through the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services’ Guiding an Improved Dementia Experience, or GUIDE, Model. - The GUIDE Model is available for seniors with a dementia diagnosis who have Medicare as their primary insurance. - Abramson Senior Care also offers Chronic Care Management, which provides ongoing support between office visits, regular check-ins, personalized guidance and care coordination. - The Alzheimer’s Association created the CDRI in 2024 after receiving a $25 million grant from the Administration for Community Living, part of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. - The CDRI is distributing $25 million over five years to local respite providers and organizations nationwide. - The full list of this year’s grant recipients is available at the CDRI recipient list.

Between the lines: - The grant signals growing national attention on dementia respite care as the number of people living with Alzheimer’s continues to rise. - The combination of grant funding, technical assistance and evaluation suggests the Alzheimer’s Association wants the pilot programs to produce measurable, scalable models. - Abramson Senior Care’s existing dementia and chronic care programs give the organization a base to build on rather than starting from scratch.

What's next: - Abramson Senior Care will use the grant to expand dementia-specific respite services and align them with CDRI training and technical assistance. - The CDRI’s evaluation results are expected to shape future public policy and inform broader respite care strategy. - The program’s outcomes may help guide how similar services are built in other communities across the country.

The bottom line: - The award gives Abramson Senior Care new resources to expand a service area that is becoming more urgent as dementia diagnoses rise and caregivers need more support.