The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services awarded new federal grants to eight additional states to support new demonstration Alzheimer's programs.

The awards will support programs in Colorado, Kansas, Michigan, Mississippi, New York, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania and West Virginia. Federal funds already are supporting projects in 25 other states.

"Alzheimer's disease affects about 4 million Americans and often devastates families who struggle to provide the best possible care to their loved ones," HHS Secretary Tommy G. Thompson said. "These new grants will expand the community services available to those families and help them overcome the challenges they face in living with this tragic illness."

The new grants went to:

• Colorado State Board of Agriculture, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, CO -- $350,000. To increase the availability of home health care, companion services, support groups and related services to individuals with dementia and their families in rural Colorado.
• Kansas Department on Aging, Topeka, KS -- $225,000. To provide care for persons with Alzheimer's disease by nurturing strengths in an environment that offers art and creativity through the development of an Arts and Inspiration Center.
• Michigan Department of Community Health, Lansing, MI -- $282,373. To integrate various systems to improve care for persons with dementia.
• Mississippi Department of Mental Health, Jackson, MS -- $252,000. To develop volunteer-staffed day respite programs with targeted outreach and service delivery to African- Americans.
• New York State Office for the Aging, Albany, NY -- $305,000. To develop direct services to persons with developmental disabilities (DD) and Alzheimer's disease (AD) designed to help them remain in family and group homes in their communities.
• Oklahoma Department of Human Services, Oklahoma City, OK -- $338,363. To develop an in-home respite and companion visitation and support program using mentors and volunteers, working in teams, to provide direct home and community based services targeted to African-American, Native American and rurally isolated populations.
• Pennsylvania Department of Aging, Harrisburg, PA -- $349,012. To develop the Pennsylvania Memory Loss Screening Program designed to create dementia screening and service delivery focused on serving Latino/Hispanic American, Asian-American, African-American and rural Pennsylvanians.
• West Virginia Bureau of Senior Services, Charleston, WV -- $250,000. To identify and address needs of rural, low-income Appalachian and other West Virginia families struggling with Alzheimer's disease.

Other Sources: DHHS