Montefiore in the Bronx and Burke Rehabilitation Hospital in White Plains today announced they will form a new clinical partnership to open a Center of Excellence for Alzheimer”™s Disease serving people with Alzheimer”™s and other forms of dementia in the seven-county mid-Hudson valley region.
The state Health Department has awarded a five-year, $2.1-million grant to the health care institutions to combine the services of the Montefiore Einstein Center for the Aging Brain and Burke Rehabilitation’s Memory Evaluation and Treatment Services as the exclusive center of excellence for Alzheimer”™s disease in the region. The grant will be used to expand cognitive screening, diagnosis and care planning and to train primary-care providers throughout the region who can help screen for and diagnose cognitive impairment and make referrals to specialists and community-based organizations.
The new center also will make more clinical trials available for patients with Alzheimer”™s disease and related dementias and provide telephone and video consultation to area health care providers.
Spokespersons for Montefiore and Burke said the center for excellence will capitalize on the research and training capabilities of Albert Einstein College of Medicine in the Bronx, for which Montefiore Medical Center is the university hospital, as well as Montefiore”™s expanding network of hospitals and physician groups in the Hudson Valley.
“The Center for Alzheimer”™s Excellence will allow us to further break down the walls between our outpatient practice and community-based organizations,” said Dr. Jessica Zwerling, a program director for the newly awarded center of excellence and associate director of Montefiore Einstein Center for the Aging Brain, which launched two years ago.
Opened in 1979, Burke”™s Memory Evaluation and Treatment Services program provides comprehensive outpatient assessment and treatment of memory disorders. Dr. Barry Jordan, who directs the METS program at Burke, will serve as co-director of the new Center of Excellence for Alzheimer”™s Disease.
“The new grant will allow Burke to continue its longstanding commitment to providing services to patients with dementia and Alzheimer”™s disease,” Jordan said in the announcement. “We will be working collaboratively with Montefiore to build upon the solid foundation both organizations have established in this area over the years.”
Founded in 1915, Burke Rehabilitation Hospital this year became one of 10 hospitals in Montefiore Health System Inc.
