We provide family, professional, youth and community education about Alzheimer’s disease and related dementias. Each presentation is adapted to your group's interests and age suitability. There are many topics to choose from including:

“Heads Up For Healthier Brains!”
Education program to promote brain health and wellness.

Understanding Alzheimer’s Disease and Dementia: Creating a Dementia-Friendly Community
Training for support staff and service providers (eg. store workers, bank tellers, etc.)

“U-FIRST!”
Training and Education program designed for unregulated health care providers who provide care for persons with Alzheimer’s disease and related dementias.

Advance Care Planning
Education for the general public on establishing a Power of Attorney for personal care, advance care directives, and planning for the future.

Personal Support Worker Training: Overview of Alzheimer’s disease and Dementias, Communication Strategies and Dealing with Responsive Behaviours
Education for Personal Support Workers and other front-line care providers. General overview of Alzheimer’s disease and related dementias, warning signs, progression of Alzheimer’s disease, treatment options, myths and realities of the disease, communication strategies and responsive behaviours.

Enhancing Care
Education for long-term care staff to promote and evaluate quality dementia care in long-term care homes. The Enhancing Care Program is an assessment process that assists staff in long-term care facilities in identifying how their facility is meeting the Guidelines for Care. Members of a multidisciplinary team review each guideline and determine areas of strength and areas in need of improvement. In those areas where the team feels they do well, new and creative ways of providing quality care are shared with others in their organization to enhance expertise. In those areas requiring improvement the assessment process assists the team in developing specific goals to enhance care.

Gentle Persuasive Approaches (GPA)
Education for long-term care and retirement home staff in strategies for dealing with responsive and challenging behaviours associated with dementia.

First Link Education Series
For individuals who have recently been diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease or a related dementia, and their families and caregivers. Watch for details!

Put Your Mind To It
An educational session about understanding Alzheimer’s disease and related dementias, its impact in Canada and in our community, current research, the myths surrounding the disease, and how to reduce the risk of developing it.

Family Caregiver Education Workshop
Our Family Caregiver Education Workshops offer caregivers the opportunity to get their questions about dementia answered. The workshop is designed for new family caregivers of people with Alzheimer's disease or related dementia. Participants will have an opportunity to learn more about the disease, communication strategies and community supports available.

Family Caregiver Education Series
This series of workshops is for family caregivers of people with Alzheimer's disease or a related dementia. Each workshop focuses on a specific area of challenge that caregivers face. Topics are subject to change but may include:

• Legal and Financial Issues
• Care at Home
• Long Term Care Placement
• Understanding Behaviours
• Advance Care Planning

Topic Specific Education
We are happy to tailor education sessions on a variety of topics to meet your education needs. These can be provided in-house, through information packages or one to one discussion. Possible topics include (but are not limited to):

• What if it’s not Alzheimer's disease? Understanding Vascular Dementia, Lewy Body Dementia, Frontotemporal Dementia.
• Advanced Care Planning: Understanding issues related to decision making capacity and consent
• Creative communication strategies
• Creative problem solving using the U-First! Wheel (includes P.I.E.C.E.S acronym)
• Emotional and behavioral responses to dementia
• Research update
• Dementia refresher

Free Public Information Night
Our Public Information Night is being held upstairs at Loblaws (Lindsay) last Monday of every month 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. covering a variety of topics including: will separate the facts from the myths about Alzheimer's disease and memory loss. This session is open to anyone who would like to learn more about Alzheimer's disease or is concerned about their own memory loss. A question and answer period with Alzheimer Society staff will follow.

Awareness Month Lecture
Each January during Alzheimer Awareness Month, the Society offers a feature lecture open to the public. Experts in the area of Alzheimer's disease and related dementias deliver the presentations. Presentation topics have included Powers of Attorney & Capacity Assessment, and Creative Communication in Dementia.

Alzheimer's Education For All Ages
Alzheimer disease and dementia affects the entire family. The education programs provide for all ages. Our Remember Me program provides information and support to children aged 7 to 13 years. Our Alzheimer Youth Program offers lesson plans on Alzheimer's disease and related topics. They are approved for use by school boards at the elementary and secondary levels. Topics include: Myths Associated with Aging, Dementia, English Lesson - A Lesson in Life, Drama Lesson - Improvisation Class, Art Lesson - Portrait in Aging.

If you would like any more information on our educational programs, or to discuss Alzheimer's Education, please contact Debra McCarthy, Public Education Coordinator for Peterborough and Northumberland or Lisa Morasse, Public Education Coordinator for Kawartha Lakes and Haliburton.