Experiencing Alzheimer’s or caring for a loved one who is experiencing it can be isolating, but members of the Alzheimer's Association want Durango residents to know they don’t have to tread the path alone.
The annual Walk to End Alzheimer’s is scheduled for the morning of Sept. 27 at Rotary Park.
Registration begins at 9 a.m., although participants can preregister beforehand online. Barbara McLachlan, former representative for Colorado House District 59, is scheduled to speak during a ceremony at 10 a.m., and the walk itself will follow.
Volunteer organizer Karen McManus said the walk is being held to raise awareness of Alzheimer’s and resources available for those afflicted by it and their caregivers, to advocate for more local services for people with Alzheimer’s, and to raise funding for additional national research.
Walks like it are held every year around the country.
According to the Alzheimer’s Association, nearly $23,700 has already been raised by 104 participants and 33 teams who have preregistered for the event. The fundraising target is $32,000.
People interested in registering ahead of time can do so online at bit.ly/4n9kc0B.
“There are a lot of people in the Southwest Colorado area who are dealing with this all alone,” McManus said. “They don’t know that there are resources. They don’t know that there are groups to reach out to.”
The Walk to End Alzheimer’s aims to connect with those people and to connect them to resources, she said.
The Alzheimer’s Association, the Durango Dementia Coalition and other groups such as area assisted living facilities will be represented at the event, with materials and information to provide to attendees.
Caring for someone with Alzheimer’s is a stressful affair, McManus said. She recalled a young man who attends a caregiver support group at the La Plata Senior Center. The man is in the midst of his working career and his elderly father with Alzheimer’s lives alone. The man is always worried about his father – maybe he left the fridge open, forgot to turn off the oven or wandered out of the house to who knows where.
The caregiver support group meets at the La Plata Senior Center in Durango every first, third and fifth Wednesday of the month. People travel from as far as Pagosa Springs to attend the free meetings and reservations are not required.
“It’s often spouses, siblings, children of somebody (with Alzheimer’s),” she said.
Attendees can share their experiences and concerns, ask questions and vent frustrations in a supportive environment, she said.
But the need for day programs is real.
“What we desperately need is day programs for individuals to go and be organized,” McManus said. “Interact, do things, take field trips, whatever. It gives them joy and stimulation, but it gives relief to the family and the caregivers.”
McLachlan will speak more to the needs of the Alzheimer’s community at the Walk to End Alzheimer’s about 10 a.m. Sept. 27 in Rotary Park.
cburney@durangoherald.com
