INNISFAIL – It was just under a year ago when Jennifer Wood hosted the first of three community forums for Innisfail’s ground breaking Dementia Friendly Community initiative.
Wood, the town’s dementia friendly community coordinator, spearheaded the project for Innisfail to become the province’s first rural dementia friendly community.
On Jan. 25, Wood gave a 30-minute presentation by Zoom to town council on the successes the initiative achieved over 2020.
“We are very proud of you for championing this initiative over the past year and leading through a short time and bringing everything together,” said Coun. Don Harrison. “I am so proud of you for being recognized, not only within our community but within the province and across Canada.”
Wood gave credit to the hard work by members of the Community Partners in Action group that came together to promote and create a Dementia Friendly Community in Innisfail.
The partnership included the Wolf Creek Primary Care Network, Alberta Health Services, Innisfail Family and Community Support Services and the Town of Innisfail.
“We have learned over the past year that the weirder the mix, the better the fix,” she said of the motto created for the project. “That each one of us represents a different community organization with strengths and each brings our own lived experience to the dementia friendly community work.”
Wood told council the community partners described a dementia friendly community as one with increased dementia awareness because they felt with increased awareness it would help reduce the dementia related stigma that some people experience with the disease.
Wood reminded council that 23 per cent of Innisfail’s population was over the age of 65, and 39 per cent of the community was over the age of 55, making the town well above the provincial average of older adults living in a community.
“From the official endorsement from town council in November of 2019 we have been able to make a significant impact on the quality of life for people living with dementia, their care partners and families right here in Innisfail,” she said.
Wood highlighted several dementia friendly program successes over the past year, including the unique partnership of the Community Partners in Action with with paramedics from Medavie Health Services West to create the Dementia Resource Kits, which were first introduced to Medavie ambulances and later distributed to the local emergency department, home care, and other community emergency and support service organizations.
As well, Wood reminded council of how the Innisfail Connects initiative provides interactive phone or online social and health programming, especially helpful during the COVOD-19 pandemic, and offering Movers and Groovers, digital drop-in sessions, Java Break, Bingo, and Health Talk – all free of charge.
Council was also told how community volunteers contributed to the Memory Café, Falls Prevention Program, Virtual Pen Pal Program collaboration with the Rosefield Care Centre, a virtual reading program in collaboration with the Innisfail Public Library and an Intergenerational Garden Program.
Wood said the initiative developed four new programs, hosted nine major events with 280 attendees, made 58 dementia friendly education presentations, and educated a total of 726 community members.
“I want to stress that the success of the Dementia Friendly Community Initiative was achieved by a multi-organizational collaboration right here in Innisfail,” said Wood. “We all had a role to play.”
Wood added the next steps to keep the dementia friendly initiative moving forward will be continuing to work together to support Innisfail’s Age Friendly Coalition with a Dementia Friendly Community Coalition that will be under the overarching age friendly umbrella.
