Community is stepping up to help residents with dementia
We are grateful to read a letter from Melanie Mckinley, a master’s of social work student recently suggesting increased dementia-friendly education in Loveland.
Dementia Together is a local nonprofit organization in Northern Colorado which started as a dementia-friendly community volunteer initiative in 2015. We collaborate with other nonprofit organizations, businesses, and Larimer County Office on Aging to offer education and enrichment opportunities where gaps previously existed. Our mission is to create communities in which no one has to walk the dementia journey alone. Over the years, we have provided dementiafriendly education at no charge for care partners, families, businesses, and organizations in Loveland and we welcome serving more.
We share simple, practical, effective communication strategies from the “Contented Dementia” (otherwise known as the SPECAL®) framework. The entire Chilson Center staff participated in such education last year. Kirk Eye Center recently invested team meeting time to learn dementia-friendly tips for providing excellent customer service for their patients living with dementia. Loveland Police Department Crisis Intervention Team, Larimer County Sheriff’s Office, a few local church groups, service organizations, our local healthcare systems, several Loveland senior care communities, home care agencies, and hospice organizations have all engaged in some type of dementia-friendly education through Dementia Together. Sweetheart 10 Pin Bowling opens its lanes for our monthly SPECAL® Sports bowling. The Loveland Library hosts our monthly memory cafes — themed, joyful, social gatherings for people living with dementia and their care partners which include reminiscing, games, music, laughter, and snacks.
Thank you, Loveland and Northern Colorado, for embracing the challenge to make our corner of the world better, one dementia-friendly business, one organization, one family, one person, one moment at a time — because even when facts aren’t recalled, moments matter.
— Cyndy Luzinski, Windsor