South Arkansas Center on Aging is Making El Dorado Dementia Friendly

EL DORADO — Ten employees from HealthWorks Fitness Center and four employees from LifeTouch Hospice recently attended an afternoon of training designed to help educate members of the community on how to involve and interact with people living with dementia. The training was sponsored by the South Arkansas Center on Aging Education Office, and was presented by Program Coordinator Bethany Cheatham, RN, and Education Coordinator Lori DeWese.

The successful completion of this education is part of a larger initiative to make El Dorado and its surrounding communities “Dementia Friendly,” following the nationally acclaimed model of Dementia Friendly America® (DFA).

This initiative is being championed by the South Arkansas Center on Aging Education Center, which functions as the community education and caregiver support partner with the Senior Health Clinic, DeWese said.

As the number of people living with Alzheimer’s and dementia increases exponentially over the coming decades, the need to prepare communities across our country on how to best care for these individuals is paramount. In addition to training 342 healthcare professionals and first responders, a committee comprised of over 15 individuals from the many business and organizational sectors of the community was formed in the Fall of 2016 with the goal of making El Dorado dementia friendly, she said.

Through the work of over 35 national, leading organizations, the Dementia Friendly America® initiative is catalyzing a movement to more effectively support and serve those across America who are living with dementia and their family and friend care partners. The lead organizations represent all sectors of the community and are collectively leveraging their national reach to activate their local affiliates, members and branches to convene, participate in and support dementia friendly

community efforts at a local level, according to dfamerica.org.

For more information about DFA or caregiver support programs, call the South Arkansas Center on Aging Education Center at 870-881-8969, or email LKDewese@uams.edu.

The UAMS Donald W. Reynolds Institute on Aging serves the needs of an aging generation with the highest standards of research and care. It was established through a 1997 gift of $28.8 million from the Donald W. Reynolds Foundation and expanded through a 2009 foundation gift of $33.4 million. Within the institute is the Arkansas Aging Initiative, created from part of Arkansas’ share of the Master Tobacco Settlement to improve the health of older Arkansans through interdisciplinary clinical care and innovative education programs and to influence state and national health policy. The AAI created seven Centers on Aging throughout the state to provide senior adults access to quality care within a 60-mile drive from their homes. These centers offer the Schmieding Home Caregiver Training Program so older adults might have more opportunities to remain at home.