PITTSBURGH -- Lois Lutz and Mary Jean Kirby described it as the hardest decision they ever made.
Would the personal-care home they sought for their parents be secure enough for their mother, Loretta Walter, who has Alzheimer's disease, and offer the garden space their late father, Jerry, needed to feel at home?
"There is no perfect place. Even at home is not a perfect place," said Lutz, of Hampton. "I wanted someplace clean, that the residents looked happy, where they looked engaged and not just in front of a TV set, sleeping."
"We didn't feel there were that many choices," said Kirby, 65, Lutz's older sister, also from Hampton. "We were lucky that our parents had the resources."
High costs at private nursing homes and few specialized facilities make a tough decision even tougher when families seek long-term care for loved ones with Alzheimer's disease or dementia, advocates say.
Allegheny County leaders intend to help, through the publicly funded Kane Regional Centers. At the Scott center, they are converting an unused wing into a secure unit for Alzheimer's and dementia patients, with room for 45 residents in medical beds. Leaders expect the unit to open by early December.
"Our own RNs and staff and medical doctors we engage were consistently telling us there was a need in this area," County Manager William McKain said. A dementia unit at the Glen Hazel center is full.
Officials said they hope the new unit will help make a dent in the Kane system's chronic deficit, which McKain estimated at $3 million to $4 million a year. They want to market specialized services to help the Kanes attract residents and not just be a "last option" for families.
"If this one works, we'll explore possibly doing it at other Kanes," McKain said.
Officials and patient advocates said demand exists for such a specialty unit. The number of people diagnosed with Alzheimer's or a related condition is expected to grow from today's estimated 400,000 statewide.
About 200 of the state's 710 nursing homes have designated Alzheimer's units, according to the state Department of Health. Those units account for about 8 percent of the state's nursing home beds.
A committee that Gov. Tom Corbett established this year to write a plan for addressing Alzheimer's treatment will determine how many more specialized beds and resources patients will need.
The medical community has about half the professionals trained in geriatrics that the national population needs, said Clay Jacobs, vice president for programs and services at the Greater Pennsylvania Chapter of the Alzheimer's Association.
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