Before we get into the bulk of this article, we would like to preface it by mentioning that the both of us, Beatitudes Campus employee, Suzette Armijo, and friend of the campus, Kathy Ritchie, are former caregivers. Suzette’s grandmother suffered from Alzheimer’s disease. She passed away in 2012. Kathy’s mother suffered from Frontotemporal Degeneration, a lesser-known type of dementia. She passed away in 2014 in the Health Care Center here on Campus.
Governor Doug Ducey has proclaimed June to be Alzheimer’s Awareness Month. While the Governor frequently issues proclamations, for those of us who have been directly affected by Alzheimer’s disease or another dementia, this is a step in the right direction in terms of awareness. The Governor is paying attention. Now, we must link arms and continue to remind Governor Ducey, and the world, that this disease is not going away.
The reality is, most Americans cannot afford this disease. According to the Alzheimer’s Association, in 2015, more than 15 million caregivers provided an estimated 18.1 BILLION hours of unpaid care. We must do better. After all, to quote Mahatma Ghandi, “A nation’s greatness is measured by how it treats its weakest members.”
Beatitudes Campus has been in partnership with the Central Phoenix Advocates for Dementia Awareness or CADA. As co-founders of this small, but mighty, grassroots organization, we are proud to see this strong partnership. We started this group, in part, to preserve the memory of our loved ones and to share our experiences, which, more often than not, were difficult. When you lose a grandparent, parent or any loved one to dementia, the grief lingers. You simply cannot walk away from what happened. You just don’t move on.
The reality is, it takes compassion and a community to endure such an ordeal. Our Campus and CADA believe that we have a responsibility to our neighbors and our hope is to provide them with the tools and resources needed to endure such a devastating loss.
We are also committed to awareness and advocacy. There will be no solution, no cure, until we, as a society, decide to make this a priority. It is important to make noise, to sound the alarm switch we did Sunday, June 12.
Beatitudes Campus and CADA partnered with AARP Arizona, Arizona Caregiver Coalition, Banner Alzheimer’s Institute, Brain Injury Alliance of Arizona, Duet and Hospice of the Valley to turn the lights on the Capitol Dome purple.
Lin Sue Cooney from Hospice of the Valley was the event’s keynote speaker. She spoke about the importance of community and caring for our neighbors as we prepare for this silver tsunami. This kind of caregiving takes a village, and we have an obligation as neighbors to help those who are on this heartbreaking journey.
If you would like to get involved with CADA or any of our partners mentioned in this article, please contact Suzette Armijo with Beatitudes at Home at Ext. 8529 or 602.544.8529. *
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- Kathy Ritchie
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- Arizona State Capitol dome turned purple for Alzheimer’s & Brain Awareness Month
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- Arizona State Capitol
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- Suzette Armijo, Director of Beatitudes at Home
15.7 million family and friends provide care to people with Alzheimer’s and other dementia’s in the United States alone. You may not know this, but Alzheimer’s Disease is the 6th leading cause of death in the U.S. and the only one in the top 10 that has no way to prevent, slow down or stop it. I am sure we all understand why awareness and support are so important for this cause. Unfortunately, many of us know that dementia does not care about your gender, race or political views (whether blue or red). I find it very interesting that the Alzheimer’s color for awareness is purple. As a constituent, I believe part of my job is to make sure the leaders within our State and Nation know that, just like the disease, it doesn’t matter which side of the fence they are on. This is a national crisis that we all need to come together to end.