SECTOR GUIDE

Local Engagement and Services

Emergency responders, police, fire and other local government workers are in the position to make a difference for people living with dementia.

Key Ideas

Knowing the signs that a person may have Alzheimer's disease or another dementia is essential for the people on the front lines in our communities and are often called upon for help. The resources below will help first responders and other know how to support people live with dementia and their care partners.

Resources

Emergency Response:  First Responders, Law Enforcement, Ambulance

Alzheimer's Aware:  Caregiver Emergency Plan Program Guide. The Caregiver Emergency Plan Project is a local community program that can be instituted to try and prevent a crisis situation from occurring when a caregiver has an emergency.

Approaching Alzheimer's:  First Responder Training Program. This is a free online training. The Alzheimer’s Association Minnesota North Dakota also offers an in-person training. Call 800-272-3900 or email info@alz.org for more information.

Tips for First Responders. Offers tip sheets with information about many types of disabilities including cognitive impairment that first responders can use during emergencies as well as routine encounters. 

International Association of Chiefs of Police’s Alzheimer’s InitiativeOffers a host of resources, information, and training regarding law enforcement’s response to persons with Alzheimer’s and related dementias.  View 4 short training videos which discuss various situations that law enforcement and first responders may encounter with a person with Alzheimer's disease or dementia.

Identifying and Helping a Driver with Alzheimer’s Disease Tips for law enforcement and motorist assist workers.

10 Steps for Interacting with Drivers Who May Have Alzheimer’s Disease and 10 Warning Signs a Driver May Have Alzheimer’s Disease

Dementia Learning Resource for Ambulance Staff This learning resource provides information, advice and guidance about dementia, how it affects people, and how to ensure that safety is maintained at all time

Public Spaces

Person-Centered Approach to Promote Dementia Friendly Design

Checklist for Designing Dementia-Friendly Outdoor Environments

Dementia Friendly Physical Environments Checklist

Meaningful Engagement

Enlist Your Public Library in Your Dementia Friendly EffortsPowerPoint (8/17/17), Handout.  For more information, contact Mary Beth Riedner.

Memory Café Toolkit developed by Jewish Family & Children’s Services of Boston.  EnglishSpanish.  Starting Your Memory Cafe:  A Tour Through The Toolkit PowerPoint (5/30/17).  Launching a Memory Cafe video.  For more information, contact Beth Soltzberg

A Guide to Setting up a Memory Café Learn how to organize and sustain memory cafés.  Includes a survey that can be used to assess outcomes of memory café participation.  

Neighborhood Memory Café Tool Kit Contains practical advice for starting and sustaining a memory café.    

The Alzheimer’s Café  information about starting and operating cafés and includes comments from a survey of 11 memory cafés around the country about what worked well and problems encountered in operating memory cafés.

Alzheimer’s Poetry Project The training emphasizes simple poetry techniques and how they can be combined with dance, exercise, music, storytelling, and visual art to facilitate a new and positive way of communicating with people in all stages of dementia.

Time Slips Training in creative storytelling. 

National Center for Creative Aging Sign in for a free online creative caregiving toolkit.

Story Corps: Memory Loss Initiative Has created a unique toolkit, Commemorate, a free resource to organizations to enable them to record, share, and preserve the stories of clients living with memory loss

Tales and Travel Memories Innovative, one-hour program that uses the theme of an imaginary excursion to a destination around the globe.

Dementia Toolkit for Small Museums Learn how to develop an object handling program that positively impacts the wellbeing of persons with early to mid-stage dementia. 

Dementia Friendly Screenings:  A Guide for Cinemas  Designed to help cinemas improve their accessibility and become more dementia-friendly.

Making Arts Organizations Dementia Friendly  Guide gives arts venues, of all sizes, the opportunity to pick and choose from practical guidance and to create a dementia-friendly approach tailored to their organization.


Additional Resources