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Copper Ridge Institute Receives $11,907 from the Quality Health Foundation
to Provide Training to Maryland Alzheimer Caregivers

Columbia, Maryland – July 2, 2008 –The Quality Health Foundation, the mission arm of Quality Health Strategies, awarded a grant in the amount of $11,907 to The Copper Ridge Institute, a not-for-profit organization that conducts research on, and education about, the care of people with Alzheimer’s disease and other memory-impairing disorders.  Through this grant, the Institute, affiliated with the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, will raise the bar of Alzheimer’s care and improve the quality of life for home caregivers on the Eastern Shore of Maryland. 

The Copper Ridge Institute is launching a “Dementia Skills Training for Family Caregivers” pilot project, which is designed to empower the home caregiver by providing them with tools to better care for themselves and their loved ones during the Alzheimer’s process.  The grant funds will be used to provide education and skills training for approximately 100 Eastern Shore home caregivers that will be served through this grant.

“Our project will collaborate with the health organizations of the Eastern Shore Community to improve the quality of life of those individuals in the program,” commented James Melhorn, President/ CEO/ Board Chair, The Copper Ridge Institute.  “This grant allows us to directly affect the health and wellbeing of many individuals and communities.”

The Quality Health Foundation was formed in May 2003 out of funds from Quality Health Strategies, an Easton-based not-for-profit quality improvement organization with more than 30 years experience in conducting and evaluating health care quality improvement initiatives.  The mission of the Quality Health Foundation is to provide charitable organizations that wish to undertake improvement projects with funding based on the project’s potential to impact access to and quality of healthcare to individuals and communities.

“We at the Quality Health Foundation are happy to be partnering with The Copper Ridge Institute to directly improve the health of the underserved population on the Eastern Shore,” said Sheldon Goldgeier, MD, Chairman of the Quality Health Foundation Board of Directors.

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About Quality Health Foundation
The Quality Health Foundation is the mission arm of the Quality Health Strategies, a national, not-for-profit organization dedicated to improving healthcare quality in 26 states.  Formed in May 2003, the mission of the Quality Health Foundation is to improve the health of individuals and communities.  To achieve this goal, we provide modest charitable grants to organizations that wish to undertake improvement projects to impact access to and quality of healthcare and human services to individuals and communities.  For more information, please visit the Quality Health Foundation on the web at www.qualityhealthfoundation.org.