by Logan Gruber
operations@thenewsleaders.com
One year ago, “ACT on Alzheimer’s,” a community group working to create a dementia-friendly environment in Sauk Rapids, submitted an application for and was awarded an $8,000 grant. Recently, they were awarded another $10,000 grant to help implement some of their priorities.
Plans include:
• On June 11, they held a private showing of the Glen Campbell movie I’ll Be Me at the high school’s performing arts center. More than 130 people attended, according to the group’s Facebook page. The movie is a documentary following the country-music legend as he struggles with Alzheimer’s during his farewell tour of the United States, Australia and Europe. CNN will also air the Oscar-nominated documentary June 28.
• And in October, they plan to have Virtual Dementia Training. People who take the training are surprised at how difficult and stressful the virtual training is.
ACT on Alzheimer’s is volunteer driven.
Sauk Rapids is one of 34 “action communities” throughout the state working to prepare Minnesota for the growing number of people with Alzheimer’s disease and related dementia issues. The Alzheimer’s Association estimates there are roughly 89,000 Minnesotans ages 65 and older with the disease and thousands more with other dementia issues. Based on the current Sauk Rapids population, it’s estimated about 1,320 residents are over 65 years of age. Of those, an estimated 146 have Alzheimer’s. It’s also estimated there are about 440 residents over age 85, of which 146 are estimated to have Alzheimer’s.
“This grant will help us accomplish our priority goals of education, awareness and resources for caregivers and implementing a business tool kit to train area staff how to be dementia-friendly. Supporting our community members with Alzheimer’s and their caregivers will do tremendous good for the community as a whole,” said Fast, a team leader of the group. “We are excited that what we heard and what we learned from our community is allowing us to make a difference in Sauk Rapids.”
“As the population of Minnesota ages, it’s important to build awareness of dementia and Alzheimer’s,” said Michelle Barclay, executive co-lead for ACT on Alzheimer’s. “Having a dementia-friendly community means care partners are supported and people with Alzheimer’s can stay out of residential care settings longer. That helps everyone – families and taxpayers who pay for institutional care, employers who have workers trying to balance work and caregiving demands, and most importantly, the people living with dementia.”
The Sauk Rapids grant is funded through Blue Plus (an HMO affiliate of Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Minnesota), the Medica Foundation, and Greater Twin Cities United Way and administered by the Metropolitan Area Agency on Aging.
More information is available at actonalz.org, or locally on a page on the city’s website, which can be found by navigating to ci.sauk-rapids.mn.us, clicking on “Residents” near the top of the page, and then clicking on “ACT on Alzheimer’s” underneath the “In Residents:” section on the lower left-hand side of the page.
For more on the movie, and to see the trailer, head to glencampbellmovie.com.
More than 130 people attended a showing of Glen Campbell movie “I’ll Be Me” at the high school’s performing arts center on June 11. The movie is a documentary following the country-music legend as he struggles with Alzheimer’s during his farewell tour of the United States, Australia and Europe.
On June 11, the group held a showing of ‘I’ll Be Me’ at the high school’s performing arts center. Campbell, 79, has been living in a memory care center in Nashville for just over a year. He’s cheerful and content, his family says. He speaks mostly gibberish but still says “I love you.”
ACT on Alzheimer’s hosts a website at actonalz.org dedicated to providing resources to guide communities toward being dementia-friendly,