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Committee approves 1-hour dementia training for DCBS workers
Summary
The House Committee on Families and Children voted unanimously to recommend House Bill 479, which would require one hour of dementia training for Department for Community Based Services employees, with training available free through the Alzheimer’s Association or other approved providers.
The House Committee on Families and Children on Feb. 20 voted to give House Bill 479 a favorable recommendation, approving a requirement that Department for Community Based Services (DCBS) employees complete one hour of dementia training.
Sponsor Rep. Derek Lewis said the bill is nonpartisan and aimed at improving frontline workers' ability to recognize and respond to dementia. “Dementia is not partisan,” Lewis said. He told the committee materials in members’ packets show a statewide dementia rate of 10.4 percent among people 65 and older.
The bill requires one hour of dementia training for DCBS workers. Training may be offered free by the Alzheimer’s Association or any other entity that meets the bill’s required metrics. Lewis described the measure as “very straightforward” and said it carries no fiscal note.
Committee members moved and seconded the bill and, after brief comment, Chair Heffern called the roll. The chair reported the committee approved the bill 11 to 0 with favorable expression and recommended it for the House floor.
The measure’s sponsor and the Alzheimer’s Association emphasized the training’s intent to help staff recognize signs of cognitive impairment and better serve families who interact with DCBS. No formal amendments or fiscal changes were recorded in committee.
