To help bring in more volunteers to the Vashon Elder Care program and to increase understanding of dementia, elder care organizers will host a presentation on the 10 warning signs of Alzheimer’s disease next week. The presentation will take place from 10:30 to 11:30 a.m. Friday, March 9, at the Vashon Library.
Last year, when Vashon Community Care (VCC) stopped offering its adult day program, some islanders, including Leslie Perry, took matters into their own hands to create something of a substitute. Her husband Steve has Alzheimer’s disease and attended the four-day a week program at VCC.
“When they stopped that program, it was terrible,” she said.
With very little funding — and high levels of volunteer involvement — Perry and her friend Lynn Ameling created a Tuesday program for people with dementia or brain injuries. It took hold and is set to expand.
“We are on the precipice of adding our second day,” Perry said last week.
To do so will require more volunteers, and Perry said she hopes that islanders with no special training but a willlingness to help will step forward and participate. The presentation next week is intended to be informative and to help people feel more comfortable around indviduals with dementia. Additional presentations will be offered later this spring.
The elder care program meets on Tuesdays at the Lutheran Church. Through one paid staff member and a bevy of volunteers, care is provided for program participants and gives their regular caregivers a break.
“I do not know that I could keep Steve at home if I did not have support like this,” Perry said.
While private care costs $25 to $35 an hour, Perry said the program she helped launch charges just $55 for an eight-hour day. Participants engage in activities in the morning, have lunch provided by the Vashon Senior Center and then attend Music Mends Minds at VCC.
Volunteers are central to making it all happen, she said, and the commitment is four hours per month.
For more information, attend the March 9 presentation or see vashoneldercare.com.
— Susan Riemer
