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Dufferin Alzheimer Society barbecue raises funds and awareness

August 3, 2023   ·   0 Comments

By Brian Lockhart

The Alzheimer Society of Dufferin County hosted a barbecue on Thursday, July 27, to raise funds to help with their mission of providing support and awareness that Alzheimer’s case numbers are growing across the country.

“We provide supports for people living with dementia in Dufferin County, as well as support for their caregivers,” explained Alzheimer Society of Dufferin County executive director Carmelina Cicuto. “Our services include education, caregiver support groups, memory support groups, and partnership education.”

Cases of dementia are growing across the country, and Cicuto shared that this trend will continue. 

“There’s a lot of studies that have been published indicating that by 2030, we’re going to see triple the amount of people with dementia,” Ms. Cicuto said. “There’s more people being diagnosed. We work really hard to help people who have received that diagnosis.”

Research into Alzheimer’s has made good progress in recent years. There are now medications that can slow the onset of the disease if a patient starts taking them in the early phases.

“We provide programs for people living in Dufferin County,” Ms. Cicuto explained. “In Dufferin County alone, there’s around 1,600 people who have been diagnosed with dementia. On our roster, we have just over 500 people right now. The funds that we raise goes to supplementing the services that we offer. We have support workers that go into the home and help people with behaviours. We also provide caregiver relief. Almost every one people who have been diagnosed have some kind of behaviour like forgetfulness or wandering. We really try to provide that support to caregivers and we have a caregivers support group that meets regularly. We also have a program Finding the Way for family and community partners that get training and education on what to do if someone does go missing.”

For caregivers, it’s always good for them to know a person with dementia’s routine so that if they go missing, they can find them.

Along with the barbecue, there were games and Alzheimer’s information available at the July 27 event.

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