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Dufferin to ‘Light it up Blue’ for Alzheimer’s Awareness month

January 5, 2023   ·   0 Comments

By JAMES MATTHEWS

Dufferin County residents are asked to Light it up Blue throughout January.

To help out, the county’s branch of the Alzheimer’s Society will distribute blue light bulbs during a flag-raising on Jan. 5 at Orangeville Town Hall to kick off Alzheimer’s Awareness Month. The flag will be raised at 10 a.m.

Representatives of the county council and the six municipalities have been invited to attend the event.

People are asked to use the blue lights outside their homes and businesses during the month, said Maxine Deacon-Morantl, Alzheimer Society Dufferin County’s community engagement coordinator.

“The support is basically for people living with dementia and their care partners,” she said.

To further raise awareness, there will be a Skates and Scones outing at the Alder Street arena on Jan. 15 between 1:30 p.m. and 3:30 p.m. The admission is $10 and includes ice-time with coffee or hot chocolate and a scone.

More than 600,000 people are living with Alzheimer’s in Canada currently. And studies show there could be as many as 1.7 million people living with dementia by 2050, Deacon-Morantl said.

As many as 340 people are diagnosed daily with some measure of Alzheimer’s. In Dufferin County, 1,500 people are living with the condition, and Deacon-Morantl said that number is increasing.

“We think it’s very important that the awareness level be increased significantly,” she said.

Increased awareness will translate into increased funding for research and programming to assist people with dementia and their caregivers.

“It’s extremely important,” she said, and added that’s one of the reasons behind the Light it up Blue campaign.

“The numbers are growing, but the awareness is not where it needs to be.”

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