Central Minnesota Dementia Community Action Network

The Central Minnesota Dementia Community Action Network (D-CAN) registered as a Minnesota nonprofit in December 2019 and has operated it's Central Minnesota Dementia Resource Center Clinic (DRCC) in St. Cloud, Minnesota since April 12, 2021 with generous support from CentraCare Health and donation of our office space at their CentraCare Midsota Building in St. Cloud. D-CAN's mission is to improve access to quality dementia care in our Minnesota community. With two experienced dementia care navigators, a founder family physician, a community health worker and variously skilled volunteers, the DRCC has evaluated over 200 clients for either dementia diagnosis/management or dementia prevention. Our services also include caregiver education, training, support groups, couples/caregivers dementia-informed counseling and several large and small-scale public and organization educational dementia presentations. We have worked with hundreds of family dementia caregivers both directly with our services or public educational events. Our most recent client survey results indicate a high level of client gratitude and need for our services while verifying the quality of our work. Our collaboration with community resources like CentraCare Health, Whitney Senior Center, Central Minnesota Council on Aging, county social services, several area dementia-related services providers as well as Minnesota State organizations under the MN Board on Aging like the Healthy Brain initiative provide additional validation of our mission and methods. D-CAN's comprehensive dementia care model is based on thorough medical evaluations that also include a detailed assessment of dementia risk factors and risk reduction planning as central to our care model. We see all who come to us regardless of insurance status. D-CAN will continue to rely on donations, grants and in-kind work contributions by board members and volunteers until we are able to convince payors of their great potential healthcare dollar savings. Our data will show expected outcomes like unneeded medication deprescribing, supported and less stressed persons living with dementia and their caregivers, fewer ER visits, fewer dementia crises, and reduced need for long term care confinement with our new model of quality comprehensive dementia care. D-CAN and its Board of Directors will begin June 2024 to advocate and seek collaborative support for a State-wide collaboration of DRCC's similar to Wisconsin's and Florida's but based on D-CAN's comprehensive dementia care model to improve access to quality dementia care for all Minnesotans.