Collaboration a First for HealthCare Interactive in Africa
MINNEAPOLIS, January 7, 2023 — HealthCare Interactive, Inc. an edtech company based in Minneapolis, announces the launch of CARES® online training and certification in South Africa through an innovative collaboration with YA Partners in Cape Town and Pretoria.
According to Alzheimer’s Disease International (ADI), there are over 50 million people world-wide living with dementia currently, and that number is expected to double every 20 years. Specifically in Africa, ADI estimates that there will be more than 7 million people living with Alzheimer’s and related dementias by 2050. To date, few resources have been available in South Africa to help families and professional care staff provide improved care to those living with dementia.
In a new partnership, HealthCare Interactive in the United States and YA Partners in South Africa jointly announce a partnership to change this by offering the highly published and award-winning CARES® online training and certification programs directly to South African families and staff members. Training and certification will be done online through the CARES learning management system (LMS) with in-person and Zoom-based follow-up training offered through YA Partners. It is the first time that HealthCare Interactive has formally partnered its online offerings with this type of follow-up sessions.
“We are thrilled to announce our partnership with YA-Partners in Cape Town and Pretoria, South Africa,” states HealthCare Interactive CEO, John V. Hobday. “Our partnership will begin with our CARES® Dementia Basics, CARES® Dementia-Related Behavior, CARES® Activities of Daily Living, CARES® Dementia Care for Families, and CARES® Dementia-Friendly Hospitals online training and certification programs. We hope to expand to other programs in the future. We are excited to bring CARES to South Africa and hope our work with YA-Partners will expand to other countries in Africa as well.”
HealthCare Interactive is known for its video-based, person-centered care training and our trademarked 5-step method to care called the CARES® Approach. CARES stands for C – Connect with the Person; A – Assess Behavior; R – Respond Appropriately; E – Evaluate What Works; and S – Share with Others. The CARES Approach helps caregivers of someone living with Alzheimer’s or other forms of dementia interact with the person in a way that has been proven to help reduce dementia-related behavior.
According to Arielle Gainsburg Meyer, OTR/L, DDCS®, CDS®, YA Partners Director, “This partnership is a tremendous honor and privilege for us and for all of Africa. HealthCare Interactive has generously discounted the cost of CARES® to enable us to affordably offer highly credible dementia training to South Africans / Africans. Through CARES® certification, our African care partners and families can now access award-winning CARES® dementia training education to improve the quality of care and quality of life for persons living with dementia, while also providing trainees opportunities to become employable and more marketable in the workplace.”
ABOUT YA PARTNERS
Established in 2017, YA Partners provides specialized memory and dementia services to persons and families journeying the road of dementia and brain disorders. The company’s mission is to empower, educate, and improve quality of life, not only for persons experiencing cognitive loss but, as importantly, for their families and care partner staff. In 2022, YA Partners expanded to provide services across South Africa as a designated psychosocial care provider for Sec18A Non-profit Corporations Afrika Regenesis NPC / Hope Tikva NPC. In addition to CARES® offerings, YA Partners offers a variety of services from in-person cognitive assessments and educational programming, to one-on-one family counselling, therapy, and coaching sessions. To learn more, visit www.ya-partners.com.
ABOUT HEALTHCARE INTERACTIVE®
Founded in 1997, HealthCare Interactive is an edtech company headquartered in Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA, dedicated to providing the highest quality caregiver training for brain disorders. The company’s CARES® online, video-based dementia care training, certificate, certification, and credentialing programs are award winning, widely published in academic literature, and the only online dementia care training to be formally recognized by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS). To learn more about these award-winning educational programs tailored to professional caregivers, organizations, and families, visit www.hcinteractive.com.
ABOUT CARES®
CARES is a nationally recognized, award-winning, evidence-informed set of programs to improve caregiving skills in the areas of serious mental illness, dementia, and other brain disorders. Each program incorporates the evidence-based CARES® Approach, a 5-step method for improved dementia care. Programs are recognized for their engaging content, interactive activities, and real-life videos of actual staff, experts, families, and people living with dementia (no actors). For a 5-minute video preview of CARES, please visit www.hcinteractive.com.
MEDIA CONTACT
Lisa Joly
Vice President of Operations
ljoly@hcinteractive.com
(952) 928-7722
COMPANY CONTACT
John V. Hobday
CEO and Founder
HealthCare Interactive, Inc.
jhobday@hcinteractive.com
(952) 928-7722
