A recent RAND Corporation study found more than 14 percent of Americans age 71 or older had dementia in 2010. Now, some communities across the country are working to make life easier for people with the disease. Among them is the Village of Yellow Springs.
The movement to create so-called “dementia-friendly” communities began in 2015. Within a year cities in more than 20 states had adopted the dementia-friendly status.
Dementia-Friendly Yellow Springs project director Toni Dosik says the program will be especially beneficial to the village. She says Yellow Springs’ population is aging steadily.
“By 2020, 45 percent of people living in Yellow Springs are going to be over the age of 65. So, it’s really about training people in the community on how to be responsive to somebody when they walk into their bank and they can’t remember why they’re there.”
The Yellow Springs Senior Center has been awarded $25,000 from the Dayton Foundation to support the effort. Additional funds have come from the Yellow Springs Foundation.
The project includes other social service agencies, including the Yellow Springs Senior Center, the Greene County Council on Aging, and the Alzheimer’s Association.
Dosik says the agencies will spend the next 18 months researching and adopting practices that will make the Village of Yellow Springs a dementia friendly city.
Dementia Friendly Yellow Springs has several events lined up to help spur community discussion about the project.
A kickoff breakfast will be held a the senior center on September 15, 2017. And in October, Antioch University Midwest will host a conference on dementia that will include educational workshops.
You can get registration information by emailing Toni Dosik at antoniadosik315@gmail.com.
