November is Alzheimer’s Awareness Month and New York has the second highest rate of Alzheimer’s disease in the U.S. NYC’s rates are even higher (15% in Brooklyn, 14% in Manhattan, 13.7% in Queens), but the rate in the Bronx — 16.6% — is the highest of any county in the country.  As New York’s older population continues to grow rapidly, there is an urgency to ensure our city can remain a place where older adults can thrive. To meet this goal, we need to expand care and support services so that they are accessible to all, including those with limited financial resources or from marginalized communities.  For every person diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease, there are usually family members or friends who take on the role of caregiver. Caregivers can become overloaded as they try to balance other demands of life — such as working and caring for their own children. This leads to intense stress and higher rates of depression.  What we need is a comprehensive approach to Alzheimer’s care that brings together medical and psychological expertise with essential social services to address these wide-ranging challenges. One promising model is the partnership between the Montefiore Einstein Hudson Valley Center of Excellence for Alzheimer’s Disease (CEAD) and JASA — the go-to nonprofit serving older New Yorkers.  At Montefiore’s CEAD — one of 10 NYS CEADs supported by the state — evaluations are conducted by a team of neurologists, geriatricians, neuropsychologists and geriatric psychiatrists. This includes a review of a patient’s complete health history and current medications, a physical exam and gait evaluation, as well as tests of memory and other cognitive functions. Because caregivers and family members are a vital part of a patient’s care team, their needs and concerns are also assessed. After the evaluations, Montefiore’s team of doctors develops a care plan that accounts for the needs of both the patient and their caregiver.  But in neighborhoods like the Bronx, where one in every four older adults live in poverty, transportation to medical appointments, downtime for caregivers and meal preparation can make adhering to the care plan challenging. To address these essential needs, a JASA social worker is onsite at CEAD where they meet with families to share guidance on which governmental and social service programs could be helpful. JASA connects families to support groups and shares information about long-term care, legal services and financial planning. The JASA team becomes a partner to each patient and caregiver — offering a multitude of support, checking in to see if services have been accessed and ensuring they were satisfactory and helpful. The CEAD and JASA teams can provide help with the many questions, concerns and resources of patients and caregivers. The partnership streamlines the care process, enabling patients and caregivers to receive comprehensive services and have their questions addressed by a fully-coordinated team.  By creating and expanding similar partnerships across the state, we can better address the needs of New York’s growing Alzheimer’s community. As Gov. Hochul develops the state’s Master Plan for Aging, we hope to see additional investment and resources to continue building social services, health care infrastructure and community-based organizations and partnerships across settings. We also need to bring increased awareness to the unique and wide-ranging needs of Alzheimer’s patients and caregivers, which change as the disease progresses.  Recently, several new federal programs have been introduced to promote collaboration. The Geriatric Workforce Enhancement Program (GWEP), in which Montefiore and JASA are participating with the NYU Rory Meyers College of Nursing, will train providers to identify symptoms of Alzheimer’s disease. The Building Our Largest Dementia (BOLD) Infrastructure for Alzheimer’s Act will support similar initiatives in low-income areas. Additionally, Medicare created the Guiding an Improved Dementia Experience (GUIDE) Model, in which Montefiore is participating, which provides an enhanced payment to providers that offer care coordination and management as well as caregiver education, support and respite services. These programs represent a good start to expanding our support for Alzheimer’s patients and caregivers, but more is needed.  By prioritizing comprehensive Alzheimer’s care and support for families, we can improve the quality of life for hundreds of thousands of New Yorkers, helping to lessen the burdens on families and health care systems, and showing our older adults our commitment to their dignity.  Zwerling is a professor of neurology at Albert Einstein College of Medicine and director of the Montefiore-Einstein Center of Excellence for Alzheimer’s Disease (CEAD). Ogando is program director of health services at JASA and the onsite coordinator at CEAD.