Public awareness in Kingston, Frontenac, Lennox and Addington

Corporate Information Sessions

The Alzheimer Society offers corporate information sessions for companies that are interested in learning more about the Society, the disease, or becoming corporate partners.

A partnership could involve providing space for Society programs, sharing personnel for programming, hosting ongoing awareness opportunities or fundraising efforts.

To set up a Corporate education session or to obtain information about becoming a corporate partner us directly at ask@alzking.com or by calling the number about

Educational Topics and Guest Speakers

The goal of the Alzheimer Society of KFL&A is to make the communities within our service area Dementia Friendly. A dementia friendly community is inclusive and supportive, its residents are better educated about dementia in general, and as a result, it helps to improve the lives of those living with dementia, as well as for their care partners and families.

The Society provides many opportunities to learn more about dementia and related issues. We offer educational sessions to many different groups, including service clubs, businesses, long-term care facilities, schools, colleges and universities. Our public education coordinators can speak on one topic, or multiple topics depending on the needs of the group. The following are some of the topics that can be discussed:

Normal aging

• Myths of aging
• Psychological/social impact of aging
• Healthy aging
• Sensory losses in aging

Advanced Care Planning

• What things need to be considered in advanced care planning
• Importance of advanced care planning

Brain and Behaviour

• How our brains function
• Understanding the causes of dementia
• The losses experienced with dementia
• Resulting behaviours and how to effectively cope with them

Ethical issues and dementia

• Understanding ethics, morality and legal issues
• What ethical issues occur with dementia
• Principles of ethics
• Ethical decision making

Overview of dementia

• Alzheimer’s disease
• Lewy Body dementia
• Vascular dementia
• Frontal temporal dementia
• Parkinson’s disease
• Huntington’s disease
• Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease
• Alcohol related dementia

Volunteer training

• Normal aging
• Overview of dementia
• Legal and ethical issues
• Palliative care
• Meaningful activities
• Environment and behaviour
• Role of a volunteer

Communication

• Why and how we communicate
• Understanding the communication difficulties that occur with dementia
• Effective communication techniques
• Alternative methods of communication

Palliative Care and dementia

• End stage of life issues
• Understanding the role of the care partner
• Providing comfort as care
• What supports family and staff need during this time

Environment and Behaviour

• Understanding responsive behaviours
• Understanding the impact of environment on behaviour
• Reading body language
• Understanding territoriality and personal space

Intimacy, sexuality and dementia

• Attitudes towards sexuality and aging
• Recognizing the basic needs
• What and who has the problem
• Guidelines for management and policy development

Meaningful activities

• What are meaningful activities
• Understanding the remaining abilities
• Planning an activity
• Value of activity

Understanding family issues

• Family dynamics
• Care Partner burden and stress
• Coping with loss
• Grief and its path with dementia

Elder abuse awareness

• Who are the abusers
• Who are the abused
• Risk factors and implications
• When and how to report abuse

Partners in care

• Role of the partners; staff, family, organizations
• What are the issues
• How can we work together to resolve the issues

Public Forums

Public forums and seminars are held throughout the year at various locations to allow the general public to learn more about dementia. Topics may include:

• Understanding dementia
• Coping strategies
• Holiday tips and strategies
• Understanding relevant tax deductions
• Healthy habits and their impact on the body
• Understanding care partner burn out
• Mental health and dementia

In the month of January of each year we host a variety of events and seminars to coincide with Alzheimer Awareness month but speakers are available to present to any group throughout the year. Check out our calendar to stay up to date on the times and locations of all our events or request a speaker by contacting the Society.

Health and Volunteer Fairs

We regularly attend health and volunteer fairs throughout the KFL&A area. We bring along a variety of brochures and information to these fairs, and in some cases some interactive activities, so please come by and see us if you are at one of these events. We also welcome any invitation to attend your business, place of employment or public space with an information booth as staff availability permits. If for some reason we are unable to attend, we are happy to send along printed information for you to display.