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Greetings!
In honor of our country’s celebration of independence I want to share with you an inspiring article about how individuals and communities across the country are using simple grassroots efforts to rise to the challenge of caring for and supporting people with Alzheimer’s and dementia.
This is how things get done in our country.
People who care, work together to solve problems and make life better.
Could our community become a dementia friendly city?
Read on to see what others are doing. And then let’s start the conversation.
Learning with you,
Mary Sue
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“Kathy Broggy heard shouts. Then she saw a crowd gathered around a car. Inside, an older woman, who had Alzheimer’s, had forgotten how to get out. But the bystanders’ well-intentioned yelling only made her more confused. “It just made me heartsick,” says Broggy, the activity director for a small eldercare company in Knoxville, Tenn. “Nobody understood the basic dos and don’ts about helping people with Alzheimer’s.”
A light bulb went off soon after when she heard about communities in Europe where city workers, shopkeepers and others learn how to interact with people with dementia in ways that provide help and preserve their dignity. We could do that here, she thought.
Last month, Knoxville became a “dementia-friendly” city. Signed on to support simple, citywide training are dozens of representatives from city and county government, major hospitals, the local Alzheimer’s Association and the Pat Summitt Foundation, started by the beloved University of Tennessee women’s basketball coach after disclosing her early onset Alzheimer’s in 2011.
“We’ve done it with just a group of people who wanted this to happen,” says Broggy.
The Power of Many Helping Hands
Broggy’s tale illustrates that the big story about Alzheimer’s today is actually a thousand little stories. READ MORE
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 Mary Sue Wilkinson is the founder of Singing Heart to HeartTM and the Young at Heart Music Program. She is a career educator and professional musician. And she loves to sing! Her flagship program, Young at Heart Music, is devoted to bringing the joy of music and singing to seniors with decades of life experiences and memories tied to music. Mary Sue is available as a speaker sharing her expertise about the power of music to awaken memories and bring joy. Together with Tiyi Schippers, Mary Sue also provides music experiences for young children and trainingfor early childhood educators.
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