Windsorites walk to remind

Kenneth Bullock

Walk for Memories

People came together to show they remember those starting to forget.

Multiple organizations gathered at Devonshire Mall to promote awareness of those people suffering from Alzheimer’s Disease in Windsor/Essex. The “Walk for Memories” is a province-wide event with the goal of bringing awareness to the disease. The money raised goes towards care for people with dementia, along with financial support and education. Every year, the walk focuses on a broader message depending on the year’s theme. The choice this time was women with Alzheimer’s.

“The Alzheimer’s Society across Canada is educating the public that 72 per cent of people with Alzheimer’s are women,” said Sally Bennett Olczak, CEO of the Alzheimers Society in Windsor and Essex County. “Women are shown to live longer than men, thus making it more likely for them to get the disease.”

Volunteers came to the event early in the morning to begin the walk. For an hour, people walked around the Devonshire Mall asking others to support the cause. Once the walk concluded, an activity was set up. According to Olczak, it’s purpose was to emulate how difficult it is to do for people in the late stages of dementia to do common tasks.

Jason Laba, a volunteer, said he was asked to put on a pair of blurred glasses and oven mitts. While wearing these, Laba had to do routine tasks such as folding laundry, counting change and holding drink cups.

“Going through the dementia challenge was unbelievably difficult and exhausting,” said Laba. “It really brings awareness to the fact that people who are suffering from this disease need the help in place to get through daily routines.”

Another organization who helped plan this event was Amy’s Helping Hands. This home & care centre sends certified care specialists to elderly people’s houses to assist them. They specialize in helping them deal with Alzheimer’s and dementia.

The job Helping Hands had at the walk was to shed more light on what it is like to live with a failing memory. The business’s owner said they have an effective memory therapy program.

“A cognitive coach works with someone having Alzheimer’s and goes through activities with them,” said Amy Szewczuk, certified geriatric care manager and owner of Amy’s Helping Hands. “What this does is keep the brain synapse firing and slow down the deterioration of the patient’s memory.”

Szewczuk said she is a bone marrow transplant nurse by trade. She became more involved in Alzheimer’s when her father fell was diagnosed with the disease. Since then, she founded Helping Hands and dedicates much of her time to . According to the Alzheimer Society of Canada’s website, in 2011, over 700,000 Canadians lived with a cognitive impairment like Alzheimer’s.

If the rate of Canadians being diagnosed with the disease doesn’t decrease significantly by 2031, research shows the figure will jump to 1.4 million.