Dementia Friendly Bloomington-Normal has taken the feedback from our community survey and is putting it into action! Our committee will collaborate with various community organizations to provide dementia friendly education to first responders, faith communities, and businesses. As we create more Dementia Friends within these sectors, we will therefore create a Dementia Friendly Bloomington-Normal. In addition to education in these sectors, we will also create social media images for various agencies to share through their channels to promote inclusion of persons with dementia and their family caregivers.
The Dementia Friendly Task Force represents a broad range of community members. The key members of the Task Force are comprised of people from higher education, the local Illinois Area Agency on Aging, Community, adult day services, the Bloomington Library, the Senior Center, faith communities, home services, residential care, the Alzheimer’s Association, transportation, Community Members, Community Based Services, a former town supervisor, a Family Caregiver to a PWD, and a person with dementia.
The Dementia Friendly Bloomington – Normal Task Force has been meeting since March of this year. While working on their application, they obtained 514 responses to their community survey, which is giving direction to their further efforts. Several of their Task Force members have become a Dementia Champion and have already provided several Dementia Friends talks in the community with a variety of different sectors.
The Task Force plans to provide education, awareness, and support. They plan to provide dementia friendly education to first responders, faith communities, and businesses. To help with community education, a social media campaign is planned to encourage inclusion for people with dementia and their caregivers. In addition, additional Dementia Friends presentations are already scheduled with plans for more.
Dementia Friendly Bloomington – Normal Contact
Sara Attig
Health and Family Educator
University of Illinois Extension – McLean County
Email
815-842-1776