Resources: national & by state
The short answer
- Two free calls open almost every door. The Alzheimer's Association 24/7 helpline, 1-800-272-3900, and the Eldercare Locator, 1-800-677-1116.
- Ask your Area Agency on Aging about respite money. It exists in every state, it is often unspent, and nobody offers it unless you ask.
- Legal help is free at 60+. Advance directives, benefits, alternatives to guardianship. Same number as above.
- Your state may not be listed yet. The national section works from anywhere. If yours is missing.
The calls that actually connect to help. Tap a type of help to see only that, or scan it all. National works everywhere; Arizona and Texas have full pages so far, and the pattern at the bottom finds the same doors in any state.
National: these work from anywhere
- Alzheimer's Association 24/7 Helpline: 1-800-272-3900. Free, answered every hour of every day by masters-level clinicians; 200+ languages. Crisis coaching, care planning, and routing to your local chapter's groups and classes. If you save one number, save this one. alz.org/helpline
- Eldercare Locator: 1-800-677-1116 (Mon–Fri). The federal front door to your local Area Agency on Aging: respite funding, adult day programs, in-home services, meals, benefits counseling. eldercare.acl.gov
- 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline: call or text 988. For your own darkest moments, anytime.
- NIA ADEAR Center: 1-800-438-4380. The National Institute on Aging's Alzheimer's education and referral line; free, evidence-based publications.
- VA Caregiver Support Line: 1-855-260-3274. If your person is a veteran: paid-caregiver programs, respite, and benefits many families never learn exist. caregiver.va.gov
- Veteran-Directed Care, for veterans of any age enrolled in VA health care: a flexible monthly budget to hire caregivers of their choosing, including paying a spouse, adult child, or grandchild. Not offered at every VA Medical Center, and few families ever hear of it. The ask is one sentence: call your VAMC and say "I want to speak with the Veteran-Directed Care coordinator." va.gov: Veteran-Directed Care
- MedicAlert Safe & Found wandering support: ID jewelry plus a 24/7 emergency response network (a paid plan). Enroll at medicalert.org or 1-800-432-5378. Unsure what fits? The free 24/7 helpline 1-800-272-3900 can walk you through the options.
- Family Caregiver Alliance: practical guides plus a state-by-state services directory. caregiver.org
- Hilarity for Charity (HFC): free respite care, real hours. Grants of 100 hours of professional in-home care (or ~a month of adult day programming), free, for family caregivers of someone living at home with a documented diagnosis. Applications open quarterly and demand is high. Apply early, reapply if missed. Also free online caregiver support groups. wearehfc.org
- Medicare's GUIDE dementia program: if your person has Original Medicare (not Medicare Advantage) and lives at home, hundreds of participating providers offer care navigation, caregiver coaching, a 24/7 support line, and up to $2,500/year of respite at no direct cost. Few families have heard of it. Ask the neurologist or primary doctor directly: "Do you participate in Medicare's GUIDE model, or who near us does?" cms.gov: GUIDE
- SHIP: free, unbiased Medicare counseling, 877-839-2675. Every state has one. A real person, one-on-one, at no cost, who will screen you for the Medicare Savings Programs (they pay the $202.90/month Part B premium: about $2,435 a year) and Extra Help (drug plan premium and deductible to $0), then fill in the forms with you. Most families who qualify never claim these. Apply even if you think you earn too much; several states ignore income and savings the federal limits count. shiphelp.org · the full list of what to ask for: money you may already be owed
- Bill help that exists in every state: LIHEAP for heating and cooling (energyhelp.us, 1-866-674-6327) and Lifeline for up to $9.25/month off phone or internet (lifelinesupport.org, 800-234-9473; being on Medicaid or SNAP qualifies you). Also ask the county assessor about the elderly or disabled property-tax exemption: it is never automatic and it lasts.
- Free legal help for anyone 60+. The Older Americans Act funds legal assistance in every state through Area Agencies on Aging: advance directives, naming decision-makers, benefits access, alternatives to guardianship, housing, long-term-care financing. Ask before you hire. Same door as everything else: 1-800-677-1116.
- Trualta: caregiver skills training, often free. Evidence-based short lessons (behaviors, bathing, communication) that many Area Agencies on Aging and state aging offices license for their families at no cost. Ask your AAA if they offer it before paying for anything. trualta.com
- ALZ Navigator, the Alzheimer's Association's free online tool: answer a few questions about your situation, get a personalized action plan (safety, money, care options). Good 2am companion to the helpline. alz.org/alznavigator
- GoGoGrandparent: rides without an app. Turns Uber/Lyft into a regular phone call (1-855-464-6872) with operators who can note special instructions: the practical answer to "how do they get around after driving ends." Small per-ride fee on top of the fare. gogograndparent.com
Arizona
- Arizona Caregiver Resource Line: 1-888-737-7494 (Mon–Fri, 9–4). Specialists who know the Arizona system. Run with the Arizona Caregiver Coalition, which also administers short-term respite vouchers for unpaid family caregivers. Ask about them directly. azcaregiver.org
- DES Division of Aging & Adult Services: the Family Caregiver Support Program. Respite, in-home help, adult day care, counseling and caregiver training. It is not run from Phoenix: the services are delivered by Arizona's eight Area Agencies on Aging (two of them tribal), so the call that actually gets you something is to the one for your county. Find yours, county by county · what the program covers: des.az.gov/FamilyCaregiver
- ALTCS: Arizona Long Term Care System. Arizona's Medicaid long-term-care program, one of the country's better ones: in-home attendant care, adult day health, respite, facility care. And it can pay a qualified family member as the caregiver. Apply through AHCCCS; an elder-law consult first protects against timing mistakes. azahcccs.gov/ALTCS
- Alzheimer's Association, Desert Southwest Chapter. Support groups, education classes, early-stage programs across Phoenix, Tucson, and rural regions, via 1-800-272-3900.
- Benevilla (West Valley / Surprise): adult day Life Enrichment programs for early-to-mid dementia, plus free caregiver support groups. benevilla.org
- Oakwood Creative Care (Mesa / East Valley): creative "day clubs" widely regarded as some of the best dementia day programming in the state, plus family coaching. oakwoodcreativecare.org
- Pima Council on Aging (Tucson / Pima County), the region's AAA: caregiver support groups and the Time Away respite program. pcoa.org
- Banner Alzheimer's Institute (Phoenix & Tucson): diagnosis and care consultations with free family & caregiver support services alongside clinical care. banneralz.org
- Arizona Alzheimer's Disease Center: 602-839-6900. Arizona is one of the states with an NIA-funded Alzheimer's Disease Research Center, and ours is a statewide consortium rather than one building: ASU, Banner Alzheimer's Institute, Banner Sun Health, Barrow, Mayo Clinic Arizona, TGen, and the University of Arizona. They handle diagnosis and ongoing care, not only research. The questions to ask any of them are on the doctor page. NIA directory
- Hospice of the Valley, Dementia Care & Education Campus (Phoenix): family education, dementia-specific day and respite programs, palliative dementia care long before "hospice" in the usual sense. hov.org
- Duet: Partners in Health & Aging (Phoenix metro): free volunteer respite visits, rides, and caregiver support groups. duetaz.org
- 2-1-1 Arizona. Dial 211 for anything not listed: utility help, food, housing, legal aid.
- Selling their silver or coins in the Valley. If you're liquidating a collection for care, the how-not-to-get-fleeced guide is the first stop. For a small lot, three reputable walk-in Phoenix-area coin buyers sit close together for easy same-morning quotes: Copper State Coin & Bullion (4550 E Bell Rd #188, Phoenix, 602-377-1944), Lone Mountain Coin (Scottsdale, 480-878-1760), and Scottsdale Bullion & Coin (14500 N Northsight Blvd #204, 480-459-5597, appointment-leaning: call ahead). Get two or three written offers and take the best. Hours and walk-in rules change, so always call before you drive.
Texas
- Caregiver SOS (WellMed Charitable Foundation): 1-866-390-6491. A Texas gem: free caregiver coaching, the phone-based Caregiver Teleconnection groups (join from your kitchen), and the evidence-based Stress-Busting Program. wellmedcharitablefoundation.org
- 2-1-1 Texas: dial 211 or 1-877-541-7905. The state's central door: benefits applications, local services, regional routing.
- Area Agencies on Aging: 28 regions statewide. Caregiver support coordinators, respite funding, benefits counseling, groups. Find yours via the HHS AAA directory (search by county or ZIP) or 1-800-677-1116.
- STAR+PLUS, Texas's Medicaid managed long-term-care program: in-home attendant care, day activity centers, respite, facility care. Start at YourTexasBenefits.com or 2-1-1; AAA benefits counselors walk you through it free.
- HHSC Lifespan Respite: state grants that fund short breaks for unpaid family caregivers. hhs.texas.gov: caregiver support
- Alzheimer's Texas (independent, Central Texas roots): helpline, support groups, education; alongside the national association's Texas chapters via 1-800-272-3900. txalz.org
- Amazing Place (Houston): one of the state's strongest dementia day programs, with family education and caregiver support built in. amazingplacehouston.org
- Biggs Institute, UT Health San Antonio: dementia support groups and family education from the region's academic memory center. biggsinstitute.org
- Texas DSHS: Alzheimer's resources, the state health department's caregiver education library. dshs.texas.gov/alzheimers-disease
Nothing under this filter in one of the sections. The national lines above cover every category, everywhere.
Your state not here yet?
Two calls reach the same help in every state: the Eldercare Locator, 1-800-677-1116 (your Area Agency on Aging; every state has them) and the Alzheimer's Association, 1-800-272-3900 (your local chapter's groups and classes). The Family Caregiver Alliance state directory fills in the rest. More state pages are planned. Tell us yours.
The pattern in every state
Wherever you live, the same four doors exist: your Area Agency on Aging (respite money and services), your state's Medicaid long-term-care program (the big funding, worth an elder-law consult). And the Alzheimer's Association chapter (groups and education), plus 2-1-1 (everything else). Finding the doors is the hard part. That's what this page is for.
One more, easy to miss: adult day centers often have an unadvertised sliding scale or scholarship fund. The question that unlocks it is "Do you have a sliding scale or scholarship fund?", and some states (New Jersey statewide, for example) subsidize dementia adult-day costs directly.