Legislative committee to sponsor bill to establish dementia care network

By April Corbin Girnus

Nevada Current

State lawmakers next year will consider legislation to expand and better coordinate resources for Nevadans with dementia.

The interim Legislative Committee on Senior Citizens, Veterans and Adults With Special Needs on Friday approved their bill draft requests for the 2025 Legislative Session, which is scheduled to begin in early February. Its most ambitious proposal is to create a Nevada Memory Network, described as “a system of care for the diagnosis and care of Nevadans with dementia.”

The Nevada Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) and the schools of medicine at the University of Nevada Las Vegas and the University of Nevada Reno would be responsible for establishing the network, which would include “memory assessment clinics” that primary care providers could refer patients to for screening, diagnosis, and treatment plans. Additionally, the network would include community health workers who could help coordinate care, make referrals to services like in-home care, and provide support to dementia patients and their care providers.

Under the proposal, DHHS’ Aging and Disability Services Division (ADSD) would be required to have a program for dementia care specialists that provide crisis intervention and other support for Nevadans and their families.

The Alzheimer’s Association recommended the policy to the interim committee, according to meeting documents.

The committee is allowed to submit six bill draft requests for next year’s legislative session. In addition to a bill focused on dementia care, they voted to sponsor:

—a bill amending state law “to include that landlords and real estate management companies must be willing to rent and sign residential leases with corporations if the business of the corporation is to assist people with disabilities to obtain community housing.”

—a bill to make changes to the ADSD’s Frail Elderly Waiver program, which “provides community-based, in-home services to enable the frail and elderly to remain in their own homes and avoid placement in a long-term care facility.”

—a bill proposing the establishment of a state holiday recognizing National Veteran Women’s History Month.

The committee also voted to send three letters, which do not count toward the six bills they are allotted.

The first letter will be to the Nevada Department of Veterans Services and Nevada’s Housing Division to encourage housing units dedicated specifically to veteran women “for mental, physical and emotional health purposes.”

The second is a letter to the director of the Legislative Counsel Bureau “to encourage signage for accessibility resources, such as hearing devices, seating arrangements, et cetera, within the legislative buildings to increase access.”

The third is a letter to the Nevada Governor’s Council on Developmental Disabilities “to encourage collaboration between the Legislative Branch and the Executive Branch to ensure accessibility for people with disabilities.”

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April Corbin Girnus is an award-winning journalist and deputy editor of Nevada Current. A stickler about municipal boundary lines, April enjoys teaching people about unincorporated Clark County. She grew up in Sunrise Manor and currently resides in Paradise with her husband, three children and one mutt.