Partners in Caregiving: The Dementia Services Program (PIC) was a 4.5-year, $2.5-million national program created in 1992 by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF) and the Wake Forest University School of Medicine to build on the lessons from a prior program called the Dementia Care and Respite Services Program (DCRSP).

In the years 1988 to 1992, DCRSP had demonstrated that adult day centers for dementia sufferers could provide needed services to individuals across a wide range of disease severity, and could become financially viable, especially by focusing on the private pay market.

Key Questions
In extending the work of that demonstration program-through 50 sites nationwide-PIC basically asked three additional questions:

1. Could lessons learned in DCRSP be applied at adult day centers more quickly and economically and with similar success?
2. Is the adult day center model appropriate for people with other chronic disabling conditions (for example, multiple sclerosis)?
3. Can results be achieved through technical assistance only, or is funding a requisite to the success of an individual adult day center?

To address the last question, 25 program sites received funding (typically under $100,000) and limited technical assistance. Another 25 sites received a broad spectrum of technical assistance, pertinent to both service and growth, with little or no RWJF direct funding.

Key Answers
Results showed that:

• The lessons learned under DCRSP could be applied swiftly and effectively.
• Adult day centers can effectively serve people with other chronic conditions.
• Technical assistance could be just as effective as funding in helping adult day centers replicate models of care — and become financially viable at the same time.

In 1998 (under grant ID# 024202) the Wake Forest University School of Medicine began a 2.5-year intensive effort through PIC to disseminate lessons learned in this program to adult day centers across the United States.