Age & Dementia Friendly Massachusetts

Monthly DFM Zoom meetings. 

WED, October 9
1:00 PM – 2:00 PM

Join others in the Dementia Friendly Massachusetts network to learn about new resources that MCOA has to offer in service of greater connectivity, peer-to-peer learning, and idea-sharing! At this meeting, MCOA staff members will introduce a new DFM …

 

MCOA Leads Dementia Friendly MA, Offering Resources and Grants

MCOA is the state lead for the Dementia Friendly Massachusetts (DFM) initiative, a community-based, grassroots movement to grow awareness, services, and infrastructure to support the lives of people living with dementia and their caregivers. Communities often choose to merge DFM goals with corresponding and overlapping goals for network membership in the Age-Friendly Massachusetts movement, which is steered by AARP-MA.

MCOA offers ongoing support in these meaningful endeavors:

  • One-on-one counseling with COA staff members starting and continuing AF/DF work
  • Useful step-by-step documents to guide your process
  • Quarterly DFM meetings with a broad array of colleagues in the field, featuring presentations from experts and highlighted COA leaders who share best practices
  • Dementia Friendly Massachusetts designation certificates, distributed to MA communities who have signed the DFM Pledge
  • Continually updated training opportunities, resources, and publications
  • A current events calendar of relevant, AF/DF virtual and in-person programming in the state
  • MCOA representation at your DFM Kick-Off Event
  • Grants for Memory Cafes, AF/DF Programs, Supportive Day Programs, and other COA initiatives that increase quality of life for older adults in Massachusetts
  • Annual Spring Symposium and Fall Conference sessions featuring presenters who are actively promoting AFDF projects in their communities
  • A MyMCOA InfoHub Forum for COA staff members involved in AF/DF efforts
  • A new DFM blog

DFM state leaders have developed a set of steps for joining the dementia friendly network, as well as a checklist to help communities explore multiple ideas for growing their initiatives.

The case for working towards dementia-friendly goals

The most recent estimate we have for people over the age of 65 living with Alzheimer’s in Massachusetts is 135,000 (2020), according to the Alzheimer’s Association. Alzheimer’s disease is the most common type of dementia, believed to account for 60-80% of cases. Therefore, it’s likely that over 193,000 people over the age of 65 in Massachusetts live with symptoms of dementia.

While a dementia diagnosis does not need to signal a loss of quality of life or relationships, the degenerative nature of the condition eventually creates a need for caregiving and specialized support in all areas of life. The global dementia friendly movement, led by Dementia Friendly America in the US, advocates for all sectors of communities to proactively plan for supporting people with dementia and their caregivers. This illustration indicates community sectors that the DF movement interacts with in order to increase awareness of and supports for the experience of living with dementia.

Steps for Becoming Dementia Friendly

No community will ever be fully dementia friendly.  But every community making progress towards becoming dementia friendly should be recognized and celebrated.  Since the Dementia Friendly Massachusetts Initiative began in 2016, communities have received formal recognition for their commitment to becoming dementia friendly.

DFM Steps and DFM Checklist, printable documents

MCOA Members only:  MyMCOA InfoHub Forum for Age and Dementia Friendly Communities

Examples of dementia friendly programs and services

While none of these programs are required to be considered dementia-friendly, the following examples have brought positive changes to their communities when implemented.

Supportive Day Programs and Respite Programs
Supportive day programs and respite programs are set in secure locations and are designed to stimulate and engage adults with memory loss through peer socialization and participation in age-appropriate activities.  Family members can entrust their loved one to professionals, allowing care partners the opportunity to attend to personal matters. Private organizations as well as select local Councils on Aging offer this service.

Dementia Friends Massachusetts Information Sessions
Dementia Friends Massachusetts promotes dementia awareness by educating individuals on how to be more sensitive and understanding of people with dementia in their community.  Read about the differences between the Dementia Friendly Massachusetts and Dementia Friends Massachusetts, here.

Some dementia friendly programming commonly found in MA senior centers:

Memory Cafés
Memory Cafés are events that offer a comfortable setting with activities designed to encourage socialization and acceptance for people experiencing changes in memory and their care partners.  Memory Cafés are distinct, offering activities including musical entertainment, education sessions about dementia, and casual conversations. The hosting community determines where the cafe takes place: the local senior center, coffeehouses, museums, or other businesses.

To start a Memory Café in your community, consider using the Memory Café Toolkit, and remember that MCOA’s SIG grants have a Memory Café category.

Pizza & Proxy Parties
A key component of advance planning is determining a health care plan that reflects the desires of the individual.  Honoring Choices encourages local governments and businesses to host pizza parties during which residents learn about health care options and identify a health care agent.  While Pizza & Proxy Parties are not exclusively for people diagnosed with dementia, it is crucial that recently diagnosed adults determine their intended future care and choose who will represent their interests when they are no longer able.

Support Groups
Support groups are group sessions attended by participants regularly, offering emotional support or education to people with dementia and/or their caregivers.  The intended audience of a support group ranges from people diagnosed with dementia to caregivers to children of people diagnosed. To find a local support group that addresses your needs, visit the Alzheimer’s Association MA/NH Chapter’s support group webpage or call the MA/NH Chapter: 617-686-6718. The Alzheimer’s Association will also offer assistance to communities that wish to start their own support groups.

Transportation Services
Dementia-specific training for employed drivers or volunteer transportation services can address the need for safe transportation options. Your local regional transit authority mostly likely offers a course for van and bus drivers on serving riders with dementia.

Workplace Training
While dementia awareness is universally needed, particular sectors of the community play crucial roles in supporting and addressing the sensitive needs of people with dementia and often encounter community residents living with memory loss.  Training can be offered in any workplace but may be considered essential for first responders and law enforcement who may encounter someone with dementia in a state of distress or paranoia.

Dementia is the loss of cognitive functioning—thinking, remembering, and reasoning—and behavioral abilities to such an extent that it interferes with a person’s daily life and activities. These functions include memory, language skills, visual perception, problem-solving, self-management, and the ability to focus and pay attention. Some people with dementia cannot control their emotions, and their personalities may change. Dementia ranges in severity from the mildest stage, when it is just beginning to affect a person’s functioning, to the most severe stage, when the person must depend entirely on others for necessary activities of living.

The Alzheimer’s Association reminds us that “Dementia is not a single disease. It’s an overall term to describe a collection of symptoms that one may experience if they are living with a variety of diseases, including Alzheimer’s disease. Diseases grouped under the general term “dementia” are caused by abnormal brain changes. Dementia symptoms trigger a decline in thinking skills, also known as cognitive abilities, severe enough to impair daily life and independent function. They also affect behavior, feelings and relationships.”

Signs and symptoms of dementia result when once-healthy neurons (nerve cells) in the brain stop working, lose connections with other brain cells, and die. While everyone loses some neurons as they age, people with dementia experience far greater loss. While dementia is more common as people age (up to half of all people age 85 or older may have some form of dementia), it is not a normal part of aging. Many people live into their 90s and beyond without any signs of dementia.

 

Map of AF/DF Communities (maintained by MHAC)

Agawam Amesbury Adams Alford
Arlington Aquinnah Athol Ashfield
Avon Bedford Barnstable Barre
Becket Belchertown Bernardston Billerica
Boston Brookline  Charlton Cheshire
Chilmark Clarksburg Cohasset Colrain
Charlemont Conway Dalton Deerfield
Dennis Dudley Duxbury East Longmeadow
Edgartown Egremont Erving Essex
Fall River Florida Franklin Gill
Gloucester Great Barrington Greenfield Groton
Hadley Hamilton Hancock Hinsdale
Holland Hopkinton Hudson Lanesborough
Lee Lenox Leverett Leyden
Longmeadow Lunenburg Manchester by the Sea Mansfield
Marlborough Marion Marshfield Monson
Montague Monterey Mount Washington New Ashford
New Marlborough New Salem North Adams Northborough
Northfield Northampton Norwood Oak Bluffs
Orange Otis Peru Petersham
Pittsfield Plymouth Reading Richmond
Rockport Sandisfield Savoy Sharon
Sheffield Shutesbury Somerville South Hadley
Springfield Sterling Stockbridge Sturbridge
Sudbury Sunderland Swampscott Taunton
Tisbury Tyringham Ware Warwick
Washington Wendell Wenham West Springfield
West Stockbridge West Tisbury Whatley Williamstown
Windsor Worcester

 Toolkits, Guides, Support, and Data

Trainings & Presentations

Dementia Friends Massachusetts, a program providing well designed, one-hour dementia-sensitivity trainings via Zoom for anyone who is interested. Trained Dementia Friends can then take a subsequent training to become Dementia Champions, which prepares them to provide Dementia Friends info sessions in their communities. (This is distinct from the Dementia Friendly MA initiative–check out their website to learn more.)

My Healthy Brain links and materials (more information coming soon)

Understanding the Public Health Impact of Dementia: An online course offered by the Alzheimer’s Association

Alzheimer’s Association presentations and training opportunities: Towns can request free, in-person or virtual education programs or presentations from the Alzheimer’s Association MA/NH Chapter.  Topics include ten warning signs, understanding Alzheimer’s and dementia, brain health, and caregiving.  To request a program or find out more information, please call 617-868-6718 or visit the Request a Speaker page on the chapter’s website.

Alzheimer’s Association’s online training for first responders

Alzheimer’s Association’s “Request a Speaker” program

Alzheimer’s Association’s on-demand education program library

Grants

Categories of SIG grants are subject to change, but the FY25 categories most relevant to DFM work were for Memory Cafés, Age-and Dementia-Friendly initiatives, and Caregiver Respite. The link takes you to an overview of the FY25 grant timeline, which will be similar for FY26.

Prevention, Early Detection, Diagnosis, and Clinical Trials

Dementia Friendly Infrastructure

There are well defined design guidelines for making residences and apartment buildings suitable for people living with dementia. They are worth reading for those, like Councils on Aging, who run and maintain Senior Centers.

Podcasts, Video, and Publications

Podcasts

  • Speaking of Alzheimer’s is a podcast produced by the New England region of the Alzheimer’s Association and hosted by Kristin Cusato, Director of Communications for the Alzheimer’s Association, CT Chapter. Kristen and her guests have conversations with people living with dementia, their caregivers, researchers, and others, exploring a range of topics and experiences.
  • Dementia Untangled is a podcast (episodes are around a half hour) that explores unique topics related to dementia through conversations with physicians, experts, and community leaders.
  • For a first-hand account about living with dementia, explore The Forgetting, a podcast co-hosted by esteemed experts, David Shenk and Greg O’Brien.  In 2009 O’Brien was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease and through this podcast, describes his daily experiences living with the disease.

Podcasts for people with dementia

  • The Dementia Action Alliance produces and hosts four podcasts: Professional Insights, This Dementia Life, Calling all Voices, and Special Features.
  • Visit the DFM Youtube Channel for playlists that further explore dementia and the importance of dementia-friendly communities in supporting the independence of people with dementia.
  • The ReiMAgine Aging podcast tells the story of the age- and dementia-friendly movement taking place across Massachusetts. The Commonwealth joined the AARP Network of Age-Friendly States and Communities in 2018. The Massachusetts Executive Office of Elder Affairs collaborated with the Massachusetts Healthy Aging Collaborative to highlight local efforts and report on the progress to become an Age- and Dementia-Friendly Commonwealth. Listen to the stories below to hear the voices that make our communities a great place to grow up and grow older.

Publications: Journals, Articles, Reports, and Plans

Partner organizations

DFM Leadership Team

Madeline “Maddie” Noonan, Assistant Director, MCOA, madeline@mcoaonline.org

Hayley Wood, Economic Security & Outreach Manager, MCOA, hayley@mcoaonline.org

Elizabeth “Betsy” Connell, Executive Director, MCOA, elizabeth@mcoaonline.org

Caitlin Coyle, Director, Center for Social & Demographic Research on Aging, Gerontology Institute, UMass Boston, caitlin.coyle@umb.edu

James Fuccione, Senior Director, Massachusetts Health Aging Collaborative, james.fuccione@mahealthyaging.org

Pam MacLeod, Senior Program Development Associate, Massachusetts Executive Office of Elder Affairs, pam.macleod@state.ma.us

Nicole McGurin, Programs & Services Director, Alzheimer’s Association Massachusetts New Hampshire Chapter, nmcGurin@alz.org

Beth Soltzberg, Director of Jewish Family & Children’s Service Alzheimer’s/Related Disorders Family Support, bsoltzberg@jfcsboston.org

Crystal Polizzotti, CDP, Director, Family Caregiver Support Program, AgeSpan, cpolizzotti@agespan.org

Antron Watson, Age Friendly Director, AARP Massachusetts, awatson@aarp.org

DFM Blog

Unique Dementia Care Models to Expand Our Sense of Possibilities

There are unique ideas and programs aiming to improve how we build a society that is livable for older adults that are brilliantly worthy of our attention. They encourage us to slow down and take the time to grow our compassion through the extraordinary experiences of others.

The Home Modification Loan Program in MA

HMLP provides loans that support projects that may include: ramp and lifts, bathroom and kitchen adaptations, sensory integration spaces, fencing, and, as noted, accessory dwelling units. It’s all about increasing accessibility.

Mark Your Calendars! New Resources for AF/DF Communities and All that are Interested in Dementia – DFM Monthly Meeting: Norwell and Swampscott

The next meeting will be held on Wednesday, May 8th.  The session will be held at 1:00 pm. The meeting will feature Norwell COA Director Susan Curtin who will discuss the new Norwell Memory Café and the SE Regional DF Facebook page....