The Campaign for Better Care, which officially launched April 8, 2010, is a growing movement of patients, caregivers, advocates and concerned citizens working to ensure the promise of health reform.  Run by the National Partnership for Women & Families, Community Catalyst and the National Health Law Program, this multi-year initiative will focus on improving health care quality, coordination and communication for older patients with multiple health problems and their family caregivers.  One of the Campaign's key goals is to build a consumer movement of and for older adults with multiple chronic conditions who are counting on health reform to provide the comprehensive, coordinated, patient-centered care they need.  For more information, visit:

An article in the February 2010 issue of Clinical Geriatrics (Volume 18, Number 2) examines Alzheimer's disease in ethnically diverse communities, with a focus on supporting family caregivers.  The article emphasizes that physicians treating Alzheimer's patients should also pay attention to the needs of their caregivers, and it describes various interventions for improving caregiver well-being and reducing caregiver stress.  To read "Supporting Caregivers in Ethnically Diverse Communities: Focus on Alzheimer's Disease" by Dr. Patrick Griffith, visit:

The International Longevity Center (ILC) published a Spring 2010 Caregiving Brief called "Community Colleges and Caregiver Training: Implications for Policymakers."  The paper provides an overview of the trend toward home and community-based services, highlights the importance of well-trained direct care workers, and discusses the unique role community colleges can play in supporting training and education programs for direct care workers.  To date, ILC has supported 36 of these training programs. For more information, visit:

Research published on March 23, 2010 on BMJ.com reveals that advance care planning improves end of life care and reduces stress, anxiety and depression in surviving relatives.  The study followed 309 patients age 80 and older in Australia, half of whom were given advance care planning from trained staff, to study whether the patients' end of life wishes were known and respected, as well as to evaluate family members' stress, anxiety and depression.  For more information, visit: