As more people with dementia live in assisted living or at home rather than in nursing homes, many caregivers are navigating complex needs without clear, consistent dementia-care standards. This gap can leave both professional staff and family members without the tools they need to provide safe, respectful, and effective support.

A new, free online dementia-care toolkit is designed to change that. It offers practical, ready-to-use materials that guide caregivers in delivering person-centered, compassionate care in community settings.

The Dementia Care in the Community Toolkit includes:

• Fact sheets with in-depth guidance on topics such as home safety and appropriate use of psychotropic medications.
• Quick-reference care cards distilling key points for easy daily use.
• Curated links to vetted resources for expanding knowledge and best practices.
  

Created by the Long Term Care Community Coalition (LTCCC), these resources are freely available to assisted living providers, home care agencies, and family caregivers. They can be integrated into staff training, care planning, and everyday routines to help close the gap in dementia-care guidance.

Expanding Efforts to Strengthen Dementia Care Standards

This toolkit is part of a broader effort to strengthen dementia care standards in assisted living and other long-term care settings.

• Joint Commission & Alzheimer’s Association Memory Care Certification: Launched in 2023, this voluntary memory care certification recognizes communities meeting rigorous dementia care standards aligned with the Alzheimer’s Association’s practice recommendations.
• Purple Flag Excellence in Dementia Care Accreditation: Expanded from dedicated memory care units into assisted living, home care, and hospice, with new partnerships extending its reach beyond the Northeast.
• CMS GUIDE Model: A 2023 pilot testing alternative payment models for family caregivers while expanding care options to help people with dementia remain in their preferred setting.

Together with the LTCCC’s new toolkit, these initiatives give caregivers more access to quality-focused, evidence-based resources to improve care for people living with dementia.

Explore the full LTCCC toolkit here and consider how these tools can support training, care planning, and day-to-day interactions in your community.