The Alzheimer’s population is growing.

Trinity at Home Community Outreach Coordinator Teresa Dakins said when she started her career as a caregiver, people were afraid to share when they were diagnosed with the disease. They were concerned about being judged or being looked at as “aggressive” or “crazy,” so they hid it from the world.

Now, people are more open and willing to learn how to help their loved ones or neighbors navigate their Alzheimer’s journey. There is more education available, as well as support groups

“When I first started in home care, probably one in every 15 people had it, and now it’s probably one in five. There is more of an awareness, so people are being diagnosed at a younger age,” Dakins said. “More people also want to learn about it.”

One of the groups interested in learning more was the Rowan Rotary Club, which went through a training this summer to become Rowan County’s first Dementia Friendly Rotary Club.

Dementia Friends Champion

Over the summer, the Rotary Club contacted Dakins, who facilitates the Rowan County Alzheimer’s Support Group that meets at Trinity Oaks, to ask if she could teach its members more about the disease and how to interact with friends and family who have been diagnosed.

Dakins immediately enlisted the help of Amanda Buck, vice president of community outreach for Cannon Pharmacy, to put the club through Dementia Friends Champion training.

A Dementia Friends Champion is a volunteer who goes through a training that prepares them to encourage others to make a positive difference to people living with dementia in their community. Developed by the Alzheimer’s Society in the United Kingdom, Dementia Friends is a global movement that hopes to change the way people think, act, and talk about dementia.

Dementia Friends USA began offering the training in various states, and Dementia Friends North Carolina was created. The training in the Greater Charlotte Region is hosted by the Centralina Area Agency on Aging.

“The vision is to make people Dementia Friends, and what that basically means is that you’ve gone through this educational session and you’ve learned enough that would make you very confident if you had a neighbor with dementia,” Buck said.

The training, which is also great for businesses, Buck added, teaches people how to notice signs that someone has dementia, and how to interact with them without getting frustrated.

Buck said as an individual starts to decline, it becomes more difficult for their caregiver to take them out in public. That’s why this training is beneficial to employees of businesses they might visit frequently, like grocery stores, banks, and restaurants.

“Part of the movement is to get more business owners aware of the disease, so when that person comes in their store and is doing the repetitive talking, the store owner isn’t confused,” Dakins added. “They can try to carry a conversation and make the customer feel warm and friendly.”

The training is 30 to 45 minutes, and all participants received a certificate. The Rowan Rotary Club completed its training at Trinity Oaks.

“This session is so good because it helps people who can spread the movement. The reality is, the more we make a dementia-friendly community, the better everybody is,” Buck said. “If we work together as a team, it may reduce the need for them to have a lot of homecare hours. If a neighbor can do a few hours a week, that helps everyone.”

Brenda Richards took care of her mother for almost nine years before she passed away from Alzheimer’s disease.

When they received the diagnosis, it was terrifying. Richards didn’t know anything about the disease and quickly realized she needed some advice. Then she found the Rowan County Alzheimer’s Support Group that meets at Trinity Oaks senior living community in Salisbury, and her whole life changed.

“I had to take care of my mom all by myself, so not having anyone to bounce things off of was a struggle,” Richards said. “This group provided me with so much information.”

Supporting caregivers

The support group, which is geared for caregivers of those with Alzheimer’s disease and other forms of dementia, meets at Trinity Oaks the fourth Thursday of every month and is supported by the western chapter of the Alzheimer’s Association.

The group began about eight years ago and is facilitated by Teresa Dakins, community outreach coordinator for Trinity at Home, which is located on the Trinity Oaks campus.

“There were already two support groups in the county, so we pooled our resources to make a better group,” Dakins said. “And it has proven to be very successful. The (Alzheimer’s) Association says if you have two to five people, that’s a successful group. We have 10-to-15 and sometimes 20.”

The meeting always begins with a meal— which is an act of compassion since many of those who attend come straight from work or spending all day caring for their loved one— and then turns into whatever the group needs it to be.

Sometimes there’s a set topic, like games that can be played with their family member or financial resources that are available. But sometimes the meeting is more of a sharing time, so members can ask questions and discuss their feelings and give advice to each other on how to navigate the diagnosis.

“It’s a very scary diagnosis, and no two people are alike, so that makes it even harder. So what works for me might not work for you. That’s the benefit when a group of this size come together,” Dakins said. “You can have a lot of different opinions and thoughts on what works, what didn’t work, what their family tried or what the doctor suggested.”

Dakins also tries to bring in speakers who are experts in fields that might interest the group. They’ve ranged from elder law attorneys, funeral home staff, representatives from Hospice, and Teepa Snow, a well-known trainer and consultant who provides support and training to caregivers around the world.

“It’s good for the members of the group to be able to come and have a nice meal, and they are able to share with each other in a more intimate setting,” Dakins said. “A lot of their loved ones have maybe passed on or been placed in care at this point, but they still feel they need to come back and give back to the group about what they’ve been through. So I feel very blessed they still continue to come and get something out of the group.”

My turn to be here for somebody else

The first support group meeting that Richards attended was actually a presentation given by Snow. Richards said she learned so much that day she began attending the meeting regularly.

First, the group helped her find Trinity Living Center, which gave her some much-needed respite time during the day. Then it helped her connect with Department of Social Services and get her mother qualified for Medicaid. After that, she was able to get her mother a bed in a skilled nursing community in Spencer, North Carolina. She lived there for about 15 months before she passed away.

“This group helped me with everything. I wouldn’t have known anything. I was at a total loss,” Richards said. “I love this group. That’s why I keep coming back because they were such a help to me and helped me get through all the rough times. It’s my turn to be here for somebody else.”

For more information about the Rowan County Alzheimer’s Support Group call Teresa Dakins at 704-603-2778.