I recently sat down to lunch with a lady who is making a difference in our dementia community.  She arrived in town 8 years ago with the determination to provide a service agency for the elderly.  She has done that and so much more. To try to understand it all, I had her draw a schematic outline of all the things she has created and directs. All tolled, 380 jobs have been created, providing services in Mobile, Baldwin, Escambia, Washington, and Monroeville counties.

You may be familiar with her Touching Hearts Senior Care, which encompasses in-home assistance, a safe discharge program, case management, and a pop-in service. She also helps veterans acquire assistance from the VA’s Aid and Attendance Benefits and offers a monthly support group.

Ms. Germany is the president of the Gulf Coast Senior Alliance, whose members provide quality and trustworthy care to the senior population on the Gulf Coast.

If that’s not enough, she has developed the non-profit Gulf Coast Dementia Services, Inc.  whose mission is to target the many needs of our dementia community, respite services being high on the list. Since dementia is our country’s fastest growing health concern with no cure in sight, I personally want to commend Ms. Germany on her foresight and determination to enable the many families living with dementia.  This group was responsible for the successful dementia conference featuring Teepa Snow held just this month.

You get a purple angel*, Gina Germany, for all you’re doing for dementia care.

*This Purple Angel symbol can be used by anyone raising awareness regarding dementia. It symbolizes a guardian over those living with dementia, their families and friends, as well as all those working to raise awareness about dementia world wide.

This purple wreath helped guide the participants to our meeting place today at the Five Rivers Delta Resource Center.  We had a great turnout and heard valuable information from Julie McGee, Director of the Area Agency on Aging. Mrs. McGee gave a brief history of the Coalition and it’s first project – the Helpline – and then introduced her good friend, Gayle Boswell, who is the Area Agency Director in Montgomery, AL.  Mrs. Boswell shared some exciting news about what they are doing with grant money for CNA training in nursing homes.

Della Sanchez, Alabama Cares Coordinator, was making it all happen and handing out information as people arrived.

The next speaker was yours truly, Beth Reinert, who spoke about finding information on the internet to help with dementia care. Caregiversunite.org blog and Facebook page was shown on the screen, a prize was given for making a comment on the Facebook page and there was a question and answer period that followed.  The remaining members of the Coalition were given a chance to tell about themselves and what they are doing:

Laura Harrington of E. A. Roberts Alzheimer Center told of their recent successful open house and stated the center would be open one Saturday a month for Adult Day Care along with their regular weekday schedule.

Gina Germany of Touching Hearts Senior Care told about the Gulf Coast Senior Alliance and the Gulf Coast Dementia Services.  She announced a conference in April that will feature Teepa Snow as the speaker.

Janet Rich Pittman, Director of Marketing at Brookside Retirement Community, told of her passion for teaching about Brain Health and dementia prevention.

Leslie Johnson of Covenant Hospice brought us up to date on the support groups available in Baldwin County.  See the recent post detailing the times and dates of those meetings.

We also heard from a DETA trainer, Martha Allegri, who is available to speak and teach about dementia through Alzbrain.org.

I am excited about the interest shown today and all the people I met who I hope to introduce you to soon via this blog. Thank you all for coming. Long live the Alzheimer and Dementia Coalition of South Alabama!