October 23 and 24, 2008, Americus, GA

The RCI Conference "Raising the Bar; Implementing Evidence-Based Programs for Caregivers" has concluded.  This Conference Website will remain up for the next several months and will enable interested parties to retrieve presentations and handouts from the conference. We've also posted a list of all participants to faciliate networking.

Conference Program: The conference program provided an overview of evidence-based caregiving programs, including characteristics of  effective programs,  numerous examples of effective programs available for adoption now (in the workshop section on the presentation page), provided a framework for selecting and implementing an evidence-based program in your agency (Dreer and Granberry Workshop) , and guided you through the implementation steps that will lead to success (Blase presentations). There are also excellent presentations on how to join with family caregivers and "honor their mission" (Barry Jacobs), how to "market" an evidence-based program and build broad support among  stakeholders in your agency and your community (Alan Stevens), and an overview of key challenges we must address that come with "the Longevity Revolution" (Dr. Robert Butler).

Next Steps:   We welcome your comments and ideas about the conference and how to move the work of implementation ahead.  If you would like to discuss followup ideas and strategies to the conference, please contact Rick Birkel, Director of the Rosalynn Carter Institute  (rbirkel@canes.gsw.edu) or Laura Bauer Granberry, Director of National Initiatives for the RCI (lbauer@canes.gsw.edu).