Dementia Friendly Communities
A dementia-friendly community is a village, town, city or county that is informed, safe and respectful of individuals with the disease, their families and caregivers, and provides supportive options that foster quality of life.
Hand in Hand – Transforming Ohio into a Dementia Friendly State
We are proud to announce that OCFCH is now the state lead for Dementia Friendly Ohio.
Along with our national lead, Dementia Friendly America (DFA), we are helping communities throughout our great state become dementia friendly. Just as we have worked hand in hand with people living with dementia and their care partners, we are continuing our efforts by collaborating hand in hand with many local, regional and national partners, by developing resources and programmatic activities to assist communities as they nurture and sustain dementia friendly initiatives — the Ohio way! You’ll see that Dementia Friendly Ohio logo clearly represents this vision. It builds upon the Dementia Friendly America logo with our unique Ohio flavor.
What is Dementia Friendly America (DFA)?
DFA is a national network of communities, organizations and individuals seeking to ensure that communities across the U.S. are equipped to support people living with dementia and their caregivers. Dementia friendly communities foster the ability of people living with dementia to remain in their community and engage and thrive in day to day living. Dementia Friendly America is administered by USAging.
Our goal? Nothing short of a Dementia Friendly Ohio.
How do we reach this goal?
Very simply, by joining together, as we recognize that each person has a very important role to play. By striving to be dementia-inclusive, community members are held accountable to intentionally consider and engage people living with dementia and their caregivers as they live, work, and interact within their communities. For professionals and organizations, it means intentionally considering and engaging individuals with dementia in planning and implementing service delivery.
We believe in a process called Collective Impact. Rather than working alone to solve problems, collective impact is centered on the idea that in order for organizations to create lasting solutions to social problems on a large-scale, they need to work together around a defined and agreed upon goal. Collective impact is a network of community organizations and individuals who solve problems by learning together and integrating their actions to achieve wide spread change. So, as each community builds its Dementia Friendly transformation team, it creates a shared vision for change and makes a pledge and commitment to become a Dementia Friendly Community.
Collectively, transformation team members participate in gathering data, sharing accountability for initiatives, and measuring results. While working on a joint plan of action, different stakeholders with different yet complimentary approaches address the various needs of people with dementia and their care partners. Through consistent and open communication, team members focus on building trust with each other and with the greater community. Each team has a lead support organization with staff who have resources and skills to assemble and coordinate all of the participating organizations.
One way to jump start your efforts is to become a Dementia Friend or a Dementia Champion. We offer at least two free Dementia Friends and Dementia Champion sessions each month. You can visit our Dementia Friends page to learn more.
Why join Dementia Friendly America and OCFCH and become a Dementia Friendly Community?
Dementia Friendly America (DFA) communities are influencers and catalysts for change that foster capability to support people with dementia and their care partners in local communities across the nation.
Joining the DFA network of communities means your community is engaged in a process to become more dementia-friendly.
- You will be part of a growing movement to make Ohio a dementia friendly state.
- You will receive local, state and national recognition for being at the forefront of serving people in our great state.
- You will make a difference, by improving the lives of people living with dementia and their care partners by partnering with them, not doing for them.
- You can proudly display the Dementia Friendly Ohio logo and sticker, customized with your community’s name.
“I believe that the community in the fullest sense: a place and all its creatures — is the smallest unit of health and that to speak of the health of an isolated individual is a contradiction in terms.” — Wendell Berry
Is there help available to do this? ABSOLUTELY, YES!
The Ohio Council for Cognitive Health is with you every step of the way.
As the lead in Ohio for Dementia Friendly Communities, OCFCH provides:
- Support for addressing dementia as a public health priority through information about brain health and other resources.
- A focus on what matters most to those impacted by dementia by involving people with dementia and their care partners in our hand in hand approach.
- A learning collaborative.
- Tools to create practical solutions.
- Quarterly meetings with other transformative communities.
- State and national social media presence.
- Assistance with operational improvement.
- Subject matter expertise.
- Educational materials for community members.
- Evaluation guidelines, metrics, and program performance measurement.
- Trend monitoring and identification of new opportunities.
- A framework for measuring inputs, outputs, outcomes, and impact.
Ready to get started?
Doing this is within your grasp.
