The theme for this year’s Alzheimer’s Awareness Month is “Support, Community, Knowledge and Expertise,” and Sean McFadden says his team is working to reinforce those ideas.
McFadden, with the Alzheimer’s Society of Lanark, Leeds and Grenville, says the group is hosting a series of events across the region for people to connect and learn more about the disease.
“There’s three main ones,” he explains. “The first is [Friday, January 6th], we’re having an open house here at our office, and we’re encouraging people – caregivers, people with dementia, and our community partners – to come by and learn about what we do, and learn how we can help them.”
Beyond the open house, an awareness seminar in Smiths Falls is also being held on January 20th, to teach residents about how they can help people in their community who have Alzheimer’s.
A “Community Coffee and Cupcakes” event is also taking place in Brockville on January 25th, for people to speak with representatives from the organization and learn more about the work it does.
One of the main things McFadden wants to communicate to residents this month is to look into possible dementia or Alzheimer’s symptoms as quickly as possible.
“Most people tend to sit on it,” he explains. “They’ll write it off as, ‘well, they were having a bad day yesterday, maybe today’ll be better.’ If there’s a change that’s seen, reach out for help and we’ll figure out what it is. It’s quite possible that it isn’t dementia related, but we need to get to the bottom of it. If it is, support sooner than later is always better.”
The open house is happening from 10:00 AM to 12:00 PM on Friday. You can find more information about the Alzheimer’s Society of Lanark, Leeds and Grenville on its website.