In this recorded presentation from INSPIREsmall.biz Monday Networking on Zoom, Jennifer Buddenbaum talks about the Alzheimer’s Association and The Longest Day, a yearly fundraiser coming up on June 21, 2022.
Links for more information
Alzheimer’s Association – The Longest Day – Indiana Chapter
Click to Dial the 24/7 Helpline – 1-800-272-3900
Here’s the transcript for this video:
Ryan: So, what I would like to do now is introduce our speaker today, Jennifer Buddenbaum with the Indiana Chapter of the Alzheimer’s Association, and she’s going to share more with us about a DIY fundraiser that you can find something you enjoy to join the fight to end Alzheimer’s, so Jennifer, you have the floor.
Jennifer: Great, thank you, and how many of you think it’s not fair that Ryan knew ahead of time what the, yes, see, so he had plenty of time to come together with that amazing autobiography title so…
Ryan: It’s a stack of cards I just randomly pick one like minutes before we start.
Jennifer: Oh OK, no, that was awesome Ryan, by the way, I love that, so, and I have access to share the screen.
Jennifer: Yes OK. Let’s see if we can make this happen. That’s happened here. See if this works alright.
Jennifer: So, I have been on these networking calls with a lot of you and I’m like, I’m with the Alzheimer’s Association and everybody nods their head.
Jennifer: Unless you’ve really had a reason to use our services or go to our website and learn more, you probably have heard of us, know we’re here, but I really don’t know what we do, so it doesn’t make sense to talk about my fundraiser unless I kind of give you a little bit of background about the association.
Jennifer: So, what I’m going to do is just kind of go through this.
Jennifer: It’s not going to take the entire time, Ryan.
Jennifer: So, I think. So, we’ll happen to it again, my campaign is called The Longest Day. So, we have two signature fundraisers.
Jennifer: One of them is the Walk to End Alzheimer’s. Everybody is familiar with what a walk is, how it works and, is my screen showing up OK?
Jennifer: Everybody thumbs up. Perfect, thank you.
Jennifer: Uhm, but again, let’s talk about Alzheimer’s, because also there’s you know dementia and a lot of people like, what’s the difference?
Jennifer: So, Alzheimer’s is a degenerative brain disease and this most common form of dementia.
Jennifer: So, Alzheimer’s is dementia.
Jennifer: Uhm, so that is one of the things to keep in mind when we’re talking about Alzheimer’s and dementia.
Jennifer: So, dementia is not really a specific disease, it’s just an overall term that describes the symptoms.
Jennifer: So, memory loss, you know, different things to that effect. Alzheimer’s is a type of dementia that affects your memory, your thinking, even your behavior.
Jennifer: As the disease progresses, you know you might even digress back into, you know, I know when my aunt passed away. This is near and dear to my heart. She was back into a feeble state, asking for her mother.
Jennifer: Uhm, so it just affects all different parts of your body. Your mind, you know I don’t want to say spirit, but it does really affect who you are. A lot of times you’ll say, that’s not even who I knew, that’s not my mom. That’s not my aunt, because it really does take over your memory, thinking and even your behavior.
Jennifer: A lot of times I see or hear people say Oh my gosh, they are so mean right now and they’ve always been such a kindhearted spirit person and we have to remind that that’s not really who they are. They still are kind, and you know, thoughtful and all those things.
Jennifer: So, I, you know I can be at a farmers market and people find out I’m with the Alzheimer’s Association and they immediately come up, and they’re like I think I have Alzheimer’s, how do I know if I have Alzheimer’s?, and one of the things that we do, we have a 10-warning sign program, but we will, we tell them, it’s when you start, you know, it grows to the capacity where it starts to interfere with your daily task.
Jennifer: So how many of you have ever been like, Oh my gosh, where are my glasses? And they’re sitting right there on the top of your head. Or you know, maybe in your shirt or whatever. You know, that’s common.
Jennifer: You know we do forget things and very, very common. But when it starts interfering with your daily task, one of the things is, you know, someone might even forget how to put their socks on. Or, you know, I have my car keys. I found them, but I’m you know it takes me a second to realize what are these for.
Jennifer: So that’s when we really encourage people to seek health care, their health care professional to find out, and to get a diagnosis, it’s not to rule, but it is, a form of dementia or Alzheimer’s, but maybe to rule something out as well.
Jennifer: So, I’m going to show this really quick video and this summarizes who we are as an association.
[Video Transcript]: Alzheimer’s disease. It’s also the fact that people [inaudible] in the doctor’s office, but a group of people devastated by the disease came together to change that. Out of their passion, the Alzheimer’s Association was born, and today is the leading organization in Alzheimer’s care, support and research.
[Video Transcript]: For the more than six million Americans living with Alzheimer’s and their over 11 million caregivers, the association’s free 24/7 helpline and website at Alz.org are often a first source of information.
[Video Transcript]: From support groups to online message boards, the Alzheimer’s Association is available wherever and whenever help is needed.
[Video Transcript]: The Alzheimer’s Association is the nonprofit with the highest impact in Alzheimer’s Research worldwide, behind only the Chinese and United States governments. The association is currently investing more than $235 million in over 650 best of field projects in 39 countries. These studies will uncover new methods of diagnosis and deepen our understanding of their risk factors and causes of this fatal disease as a result of the association’s vision and commitment. The scientific community is now poised to discover breakthrough methods of treatment and prevention.
[Video Transcript]: The Alzheimer’s Association has activated a nationwide network of dedicated advocates who, together with the association, work at all levels of government to address the Alzheimer’s crisis. Under the association’s leadership and with support from champions in Congress, Alzheimer’s funding has reached a historic high of $3.1 billion and policies to enhance access to critical care planning are now in place.
[Video Transcript]: No other organization has the reach, the knowledge or the understanding to defeat Alzheimer’s disease. But we can’t do it alone. Stand with the Alzheimer’s Association today to build a world without Alzheimer’s and all other dementia tomorrow. Join us.
[Video Transcript]: 40 years ago, Alzheimer’s disease wasn’t discussed at the dinner table.
Jennifer: There we go. It was going to play again, sorry about that, so hopefully that video gave you a little bit of better understanding since we started in 1980. Our mission really hasn’t changed.
Jennifer: The group of people who came together identified, not even the health care professionals, wanted to talk about Alzheimer’s and dementia.
Jennifer: And you know, a lot of people still don’t really want to talk about it. You hear a lot about cancer. You hear a lot about, you know, some of the other diseases out there.
Jennifer: There’s hope for those people. There’s a cure. And there’s yet to be a cure for Alzheimer’s.
Jennifer: So that is why we are trying to raise awareness about this disease because our vision truly is a world where there’s no Alzheimer’s or other dementia, and it’s great to be a part of this company ’cause I truly feel like they walk the walk and talk the talk.
Jennifer: Everything we do is driven towards our mission. And so that you know, again, I wanted to tell you what it is we do before we hop in, uhm?
Jennifer: Here’s another video on some of our facts and figures. So, the reason why these facts and figures, in my opinion, are important. Because you don’t realize, I can’t even tell you how many times that I run across somebody, and they’re like, Oh my gosh, you work for the Alzheimer’s Association.
Jennifer: I, you know, my grandmother is battling Alzheimer’s or my mother. I was at a spotlight event and networking event and the server came up when she found out who I worked for and she’s like, Oh my gosh, thank you for what you do.
Jennifer: You know my grandmother is fighting Alzheimer’s right now. It’s a horrible disease. We’ve gotta find a cure.
Jennifer: So, it’s just alarming, the number of people that are battling this disease in America.
Jennifer: And one of the statistics that stands out to me is the number of people that die from Alzheimer’s compared to breast cancer and prostate cancer combined.
Jennifer: And one of the big initiatives that we have in 2022 and we’ve all heard about the disparities in health care. But also, the people that need our services the most are those that aren’t using our resources, so the black community, the Latino community, the LGTBQ community.
Jennifer: So, we really have initiative to make sure that we can make our services available to them. And make them aware of what we do, so discrimination not only is in healthcare, but it’s also on what the services that we provide, so we are working hard to make sure that we can combat these disparities.
Jennifer: And then you keep hearing about the caregivers because a lot of people are like, OK, you know, I’m part of that sandwich generation where I have to take care of my parents and take care of my children under 18.
Jennifer: This is big because it affects our economy because the number of people that have to miss work to take Mom to an appointment or, you know, with Alzheimer’s, you get to the point where it’s not safe for them to be alone again.
Jennifer: So, a lot of people have to make that decision to maybe give up their job because they’re caring for someone, so that’s why it’s very important to us just to provide our caregiver support. Because again, you feel like your own life has been taken away from you because you’re caring for your parents.
Jennifer: So, it’s important to us to make sure that we provide services information, whatever we can do because one of the things that we tell people, if you’re not caring for yourself, then you’re not good for somebody else.
Jennifer: Care and support. The 24 helpline, 24/7 helpline is, we’ve got social workers staffed around the clock, even on holidays. No question is too big or too small for these health care workers, for our social workers.
Jennifer: It could be anywhere from, I think I have dementia. Do I have dementia? They can point you in the right direction.
Jennifer: You could be caring for a loved one and you’re like, my, you know, my mom keeps wandering at night. She’s leaving the house, well what can I do to keep her safe? So, we encourage people to call that 24/7 helpline and if they find that it’s something that needs local conversations, we have a social worker on our staff here in the Greater Indiana Chapter as well, we can follow up.
Jennifer: Concerns and awareness.
Jennifer: So, we want to make sure that everybody is aware of what this disease is. What are some of the risk factors? And so, we have different programs out in the community.
Jennifer: In fact, we have one coming up in March, and it’s free, and I’ll make sure that all of you get the information, but it’s What are the 10 Warning Signs. You may not see your family, you know, but a couple times a year and you get together for your holidays and you’re like something just doesn’t seem right with Dad, what, what’s going on? So, you know the 10 warning signs, or one of my favorites is the healthy living because there is that correlation, you know none of us want to hear it LOL.
Jennifer: Uh, between healthy living and healthy brain, so healthy body, healthy brain.
Jennifer: What are some of the things you can do. Good news, you can eat dark chocolate and that helps the brain, so you know anytime you get that urge for some chocolate, you just tell that loved one, Hey, I am just helping my brain by eating this chocolate right now.
Jennifer: So, there are some different things, from risk factors, environmental factors, that have been shown to contribute to dementia and Alzheimer’s.
Jennifer: Advocacy right now we have people over at the Statehouse and they’re advocating for those with Alzheimer’s. Many of you have gotten the silver alert on your phone in the middle of the night.
Jennifer: You’re like what is that noise and you look at your phone and it’s a silver alert. We were a part of that because, again, wandering is a big part of Alzheimer’s and some forms of dementia where they might leave the house, but they can’t remember how to get back.
Jennifer: And it’s important, especially, this time of year when the temperatures are sub-zero, that we learn that we can find a way to make sure that our loved ones find their way back to us.
Jennifer: So, advocacy is a big part, one of them that just passed the Senate, or House is on its way to the Senate that we are doing this year is making sure that caregivers have training.
Jennifer: Because caring for someone you know, an aged person versus someone with dementia or Alzheimer’s. It’s, there’s a little bit, uhm, there’s a difference.
Jennifer: And there’s different forms of communication. Instead of being combative, like, you just asked me that question already or this is the 15th time you’ve asked me that question, it’s different ways that we can interact with them and communicate with them.
Jennifer: Research. This is huge. In fact, we’re getting ready to release. We have a local researcher here from IU Health who’s going to talk on a meeting this week about UM, Aduhelm, and it’s been approved by the FDA. There’s a lot of controversy around it.
Jennifer: I get it, but as having somebody in my family with Alzheimer’s, it’s kind of exciting ’cause it’s the first time in 20 years that has gotten attention.
Jennifer: So, uhm, Yay! You know it got passed. We’re getting ready to fast track a couple more in 2022.
Jennifer: The only thing is CMS [Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services].
Jennifer: They’ve recently said that Medicare won’t cover this, so again, there’s disparity. So, unless you are rich, you will not have access to some of these medications that have been proven to slow down the progression of Alzheimer’s and dementia, so we are advocating, and I love it.
Jennifer: Even our CEO used the words, And, you have the audacity to use our research information. And I’m like, you go, Harry Johns.
Jennifer: But research is a big part of what we do.
Jennifer: As you heard in the video, the Alzheimer’s Association is the third leading contributor to research funding. Excuse me, and that’s behind the US and the Chinese Government, so that is a big part of what we do. 78 cents of every dollar that we bring into our association goes back to fueling our mission and a part of that, as you saw, by the billions of dollars is in research.
Jennifer: So, we gotta fund all of this. We’ve got care and support. How in the world do we pay the light bill?
Jennifer: All that fun thing. All that fun stuff, excuse me.
Jennifer: So, we talked about the Walk to End Alzheimer’s.
Jennifer: There’s also the second signature fundraiser that’s called The Longest Day. Walks are not for everybody.
Jennifer: It’s a certain day, uh, certain time, you gotta find a parking space, walking may not be your thing. So, they created The Longest Day. And it’s around the slogan the day with the most light is a day we fight to end Alzheimer’s.
Jennifer: And it’s around the summer solstice, which is in the summer this year.
Jennifer: It’s June. It’s this, says June 20th, It’s actually June 21st this year and it has about 16 hours of light, so that is the longest day of the year. Now, even though it’s centered around that summer solstice.
Jennifer: It’s a do-it-yourself fundraiser where you take things that you already enjoy doing, hiking, biking, sewing, hosting, a backyard barbecue, cornhole. We’ve had people do beer pong, you name it.
Jennifer: I’ve got a guy who’s doing bourbon tasting. Uhm, whatever you enjoy doing, you turn it into a fundraiser and you do it when you want.
Jennifer: So, our season starts in September and goes through August. And June is just kind of that day that we recognize all of those through fundraising. It’s a day across social media.
Jennifer: We will raise American awareness about Alzheimer’s as well as association, but it’s just a do-it-yourself fundraiser, which makes it a lot of fun.
Jennifer: Guess what? I got another video. Real quick one here. This is going to sum it up what the longest day is.
[Video Speaker]: The whole day on June 23rd, help us stand up to the darkness of Alzheimer’s by raising funds for the care, support and research efforts of the Alzheimer’s Association.
[Video Speaker]: It’s easy, take any activity you enjoy and turn it into a fundraiser to fight Alzheimer’s from bowling to basketball and card games to craps.
[Video Speaker]: Any activity can be part of the longest day. Your family, friends, colleagues and the Alzheimer’s Association are here to support you along the way. Together we can get closer to our ultimate goal, the first survivor of Alzheimer’s.
[Video Speaker]: The date with the most life is the day we fight. Start now, select your activity at alz.org/thelongestday. The longest day is the day.
Jennifer: Stay with me, there we go.
Jennifer: Any rolling roller Derby people out there? That’s only when I go through that video I’m like, oh I have somebody who does that or somebody who just had.
Jennifer: I’m like, I don’t have any roller derby people, not only can individuals participate in The Longest Day. But we have companies that participate as well and a lot of people like, OK, so why would I want my company to participate?
Jennifer: Well, one as you heard, Alzheimer’s impacts the economy. It impacts our companies. You’ve got employees who are missing work because they’re having to be a caregiver.
Jennifer: It’s great for employee engagement and collaboration. Health and Wellness.
Jennifer: We can do different programs on you know, again, we talked about healthy living so this really could become a part of your healthy Wellness.
Jennifer: We had a company who did a match and it became part of their Wellness program and they matched a dollar for every mile that their employees raised and then also it enhances your reputation in the community. This is a great way to say that we care about our community and that we give back. It could be simple as we had a law firm who did a Casual for A Cause, so they allowed everybody, you pitch in $5.
Jennifer: You get to wear jeans for the day. They did it for the week, you pay $25. You get to wear jeans every day to work, and in some offices. Even though I’m working from home and I’m wear pretty much whatever I want right now.
Jennifer: If you’re working in an office, that’s a big deal if you could go casual for a week. So, all kinds of ideas, if you’re looking for a way to get your company engaged, I wrote it down here.
Jennifer: Was it Claire who’s with our bowling alley? Yes Claire.
Jennifer: I would love to chat with you. Bowling is 1 of our big activities that has proven to be successful.
Jennifer: Excuse me, sorry as I told Brian as I got on, we’re combating COVID at my house.
Jennifer: Last year, the longest day raised over $9 million crossed every state and we have 75 chapters in the United States.
Jennifer: So, there were 75 chapters. We’re doing exactly what I’m doing, and that’s encouraging people to participate in The Longest Day.
Jennifer: Media impressions- we don’t have an advertising budget.
Jennifer: So, for people to find out about us, it’s word of mouth, is getting the free advertising through media coverage and across the country. We were able to get 98.5 million media impressions. This is great. It’s free advertising if you will.
Jennifer: And in 26 countries, so we’re not only located here in the United States, we’re in 26 countries worldwide.
Jennifer: Uhm, so there’s different ways to get involved. One of them is hosting an activity and the other one is volunteering.
Jennifer: So, I, uh, my part of the spotlight. I had a guy come up to me and he’s like, and I joked with him, I’m like you were just kind of tired of hearing my elevator speech, weren’t you?
Jennifer: ‘Cause you, he came up and said he wanted to volunteer.
Jennifer: So, Rodney is now one of, we call them, an ambassador.
Jennifer: He’s a volunteer. And he’s helping us recruit. So, while he’s out, networking, working with others, he’s telling people that, you know, hey, I support the Alzheimer’s Association.
Jennifer: I am, you know, looking for people to participate in a lot of say we also have people who might volunteer by making phone calls to past participants or current participants, marketing and outreach.
Jennifer: Finding opportunities where I can be in front of a group of people like you and talk about what we do and how we do it and how you can support it through The Longest Day.
Jennifer: There are volunteer opportunities, as well as registering it with this page, hosting a fundraiser, having a backyard barbecue, uhm, fishing is one of the things you could do, and so the ideal contact for me is, are people who are looking to support the association, whether it be through volunteering or hosting an activity that they enjoy doing and fundraising for the association.
Jennifer: So that is The Longest Day.
Jennifer: And, are there any questions? I’m gonna stop sharing here.
Jennifer: Oh yes, so hello, hello who’s out?
Ruth: I wasn’t sure if someone else came on. Let me share my, I mean, turn on my camera. Thank you for your presentation. I actually, hold on a second, just a second.
Ruth: I actually did not know that Alzheimer’s, like, I don’t know how to put this, I didn’t know that dementia was a type of Alzheimer’s, because we weren’t – the other way around, that Alzheimer’s was a type of dementia, because I had been saying, Oh my mom doesn’t have Alzheimer’s, you know, so you know, all good. She just has dementia, you know.
Ruth: And, so, I found your, I found your, the information you shared to be very informative first of all, and it just really kind of struck a little, I don’t know, a little chord with me ’cause I am a caregiver and so I can relate to a lot of things that you were talking about.
Ruth: And so, I wrote down the number, the help number. I think that will be helpful to me as I go through this journey. It’s definitely something that I don’t think a lot of people, I don’t think a lot of people understand.
Ruth: I myself do not get it and I and I’ve been saying I need training because this is just it just keeps evolving and it’s just like yeah, you feel very inadequate at times. So yeah, thank you so much for your presentation. I don’t have a question, so sorry it’s just commenting and I have the numbers, so I’ll definitely call for support, thank you.
Jennifer: Absolutely Ruth. And then I also encourage you, our website alz.org/indiana. And there’s a lot of.
Ruth: Yeah, I have that.
Jennifer: If you get a chance to visit there as well, because they will talk about you know you hear about vascular dementia, and you know people don’t realize people with Parkinson’s often get Alzheimer’s or dementia, so there’s just so many crossovers, so I encourage you to look at the website as well for resources.
Ruth: OK.
Jennifer: Thank you Ruth.
Ruth: You’re welcome.
Jennifer: Kim?
Kim: Well, thank you for that, I was looking forward to that, I was telling Kristen, excuse me, I was telling Kristen this morning that, you know, I wanted to be sure to get on this call ’cause I wanted to learn more.
Kim: What the heck? We’ve all been affected by Alzheimer’s in some way, shape or form. I have two questions. I’ll do it one at a time. The first one is, are there any, like key influences like history like genetics, smoking, poor diet? What are some of the pre indicators? Are there any?
Jennifer: Again, if you go to the website and I am not, UM, I’m not a certified person to speak on this, but I will tell you from personal experience because I lost my aunt this past May.
Jennifer: Her sister, which is my mother, has been diagnosed with early cognitive disorder. And those two ladies also lost their first cousin to Alzheimer’s. So, as you can imagine, I am hanging on to every bit of research about like what does my future look like?
Jennifer: And I set in on this presentation on heredity and Alzheimer’s, and basically, it’s 50% I can walk out the street and get, you know, 50% chance I get hit by a car, but there are quite a few environmental factors that play into it.
Jennifer: So, as you read through a lot of the research, there are certain over the counter medications I won’t take anymore because they have been linked to Alzheimer’s, so there is a, Prilosec, or something along that line, because I get a lot of acid reflux and so my doctors like you need to take Prilosec, and I’m like, No, it’s been linked to Alzheimer’s, now again it’s excessive use. But all of these research findings are on our website.
Jennifer: Uhm, but there are different, you know, the additives to foods and different things that they have found that have contributed or have a higher risk factor if you will. Vascular dementia, smoking is a big part of that because that causes that, you know, your vascular system to shrink and that does cause dementia.
Jennifer: Uhm, so there are contributing factors that they have found that increase your risk of having dementia or Alzheimer’s.
Kim: OK, thank you for that, that’s interesting and I’m gonna definitely look those up. Uh, my, my second question is, you know, we think of COVID or pneumonia or heart disease, and those are the reasons, breast cancer, you know, progressive diseases as to why people die. Why are people, more people, dying of Alzheimer’s?
Jennifer: So, uhm, first of all, people are starting to get diagnosed earlier on. When I say earlier, I mean younger with Alzheimer’s then previously, uhm again, those are those environmental factors that play into that.
Jennifer: Uhm, but what happens with Alzheimer’s is your body gets to the point where it forgets to breathe. You know, you get to the point where you forget how to eat. You can be sustained on a feeding tube and that’s when your family members have to make that decision, we want to continue.
Jennifer: What is the quality of life with them on a feeding tube? So Alzheimer’s and dementia? It just kind of depends on what type it is, How old you are, Some of the other contributing factors.
Jennifer: But Alzheimer’s, it’s a progression, and it literally gets to the point where your body, your memory, forgets how to do those life functions that sustain it. That is why you know, again, there’s not that cure, and that’s why some of these medications that slow down that amyloid buildup in your in your brain. That’s why these are more important, because it slows down that progression.
Kim: Thank you very much, I appreciate it.
Jennifer: I hope that helped help answer, yeah.
Kim: Yeah, thank you.
Sharon: I had a question.
Jennifer: Sure.
Sharon: Don’t know if you can see my little icon hands.
Jennifer: And I didn’t, I see it now.
Sharon: So, I read somewhere, I don’t remember where, that they’ve done, in doing research on Alzheimer’s, that they’ve done autopsies on people’s brains, and they found that some people had Alzheimer’s show it in their brain, but they didn’t have any symptoms and they were saying that that was based on their like playing certain puzzles or doing certain word games or something like that that they and they weren’t, they were like asymptomatic, but their brains had Alzheimer’s.
Sharon: Is there any truth to that?
Jennifer: Again, I’m not certified to speak on that, but I will tell you one of the things that we highly encourage is keeping your mind active, and one of the things that we hear people say is I read every day. And we tell people that’s very passive, so we encourage, you know, Sudoku, I know that sounds silly, but we encourage people to do things, act to keep your mind active.
Jennifer: Also, we encourage people to get out and do physical, and when I say physical, I’m talking about taking walk, do something, because that oxygen flow as well, so again I am not, I can’t speak, hold on, I got a kid called me.
Jennifer: I can’t speak to that because that’s really not my area but I just do know some of the things that we encourage people to do.
Jennifer: And it also talks about it on our website, not to keep directing people back there, but what we encourage people to do, and you’ll find, even after people have been diagnosed, if we can keep them actively engaged physically and mentally, it seems to kind of slow down the progression a little bit.
Jennifer: So yeah, Sharon, I apologize. I’m not qualified to answer that question 100% so.
Sharon: That’s OK, I appreciate your response, thank you.
Jennifer: Any other questions?
Ryan: Yeah Jennifer, I have one for you.
Ryan: What are some of the most off the wall fundraiser ideas that you’ve seen?
Jennifer: Off the wall? These are so fun, so I had a gal last year, her mother is battling. She is a triathlete. We thought for sure she would do something, you know, hiking or running something physical.
Jennifer: No, she placed a challenge out there and she said if I reached my financial goal, I will shave.
Jennifer: It’s called Buzz, Buzz Off for ALS. She would shave her head.
Jennifer: She is this little cute blonde headed girl. If you would see her, you would never believe it, well. Of course, people were like, here’s $1000. Yeah, they wanted to see Sarah shave her head and she did.
Jennifer: You know, and I don’t know, if they’re off the wall, but some really cool things and we’re hoping to do it this year with Zionsville, but paint the town purple where the whole town gets involved.
Jennifer: We had, let’s think, what else we have out there. We had a guy who did a crazy hair thing that was fun. He did four different hair hairdos, like he had a spiked Mohawk thingy for a while but just four crazy and people, whatever hairdo got the most donations then he wore that hairdo for a month or something like that.
Jennifer: Excuse me so they are all over the place, we come, yeah, in terms of crazy. Get a live streamer. It wasn’t in our chapter, but I’m dying to find a live streamer who did some online gaming. Uhm, what else have we done? Lemonade stands, that’s not very crazy, but those are fun, bake sales.
Jennifer: Beer pong is always fun. Oh, I just had the Sigma Alpha Mu at IU. They just raised over $7000 with No Shave November.
Jennifer: So, group of college kids finally found a reason not to shave for a whole month and raised $7000, so that’s pretty good for college kids. I don’t, you know. Oh gosh, it’s all over the place, Ryan, you got a crazy idea in mind that we need to make happen here in Indiana?
Ryan: Has a pub crawl happened?
Jennifer: No, but you know, I have to get used to this, ’cause I worked for Radio Disney for years. We couldn’t even like mouth the word alcohol or anything like that. And now I’m like, let’s do a bourbon tasting.
Jennifer: You know I don’t drink bourbon, but you know, people like, can I do a bourbon tasting and then a wine tasting? I have a locally owned winery here. All of you will get an invite on June 21st, but we’re gonna have a tasting Tuesday. It’s a vegan wine.
Jennifer: Ah, just not this, sorry winery, a vegan winery, and they’re going to do a tasting Tuesday, so would love to have all of you join me for a tasting Tuesday, UM. But yeah, I mean, there’s all kinds of fun stuff, but we haven’t done a pub crawl.
Ryan: OK.
Jennifer: I think, I think it’s time Ryan.
Ryan: Yeah, let’s talk about that. That sounds like fun.
Kim: Where’s the tasting Tuesday?
Jennifer: She says she has the location and I have a meeting with her Thursday to find out where it is so.
Kim: Please let us know for our calendars.
Jennifer: I would love to let you guys know.
Sharon: Yeah, there’s several vegan wineries, so don’t know which one.
Jennifer: A SIP and Shares the name of this vegan winery.
Jennifer: It’s minority owned. She’s amazing. Very community minded. Uhm, yeah, I’m inviting my conversation.
Sharon: 2202 E 44th St.
Jennifer: They don’t have an actual place though, so she’s putting it.
Sharon: OK.
Jennifer: Yeah, it’ll be on June 21st, which is the longest day so that’s how her, where their winery is, but that they don’t have an actual pop in shop.
Jennifer: Any other questions?
Ryan: What are some comments or statements that we should be listening for when it comes to someone who has a family member or knows somebody that the Alzheimer’s Association can help?
Jennifer: Well, I don’t know if there’s keywords as much as you know. If you’re with your own family or someone says to you like my mom or dad or so, and so they just don’t seem like themselves anymore or they seem forgetful, or their behaviors changed.
Jennifer: One of the common things amongst people who are in the earlier stages is, maybe they were a very outgoing person and all of a sudden, they become withdrawn. They don’t want to go out anymore, they don’t, you know, they don’t want to do different things.
Jennifer: So, it’s a little bit more than just being forgetful, but they can be withdrawn, uhm. Oh goodness, what are some of the others, odd.
Jennifer: Like short, they’re short with people because they’re frustrated because a lot of times they they know what they want to say, but they just can’t say it, so they just become frustrated a lot, irritated a lot.
Jennifer: But if someone starts to say, you know, Oh my goodness, they’re just not themselves anymore.
Jennifer: That’s when you could, potentially, you know, it is hard because everybody is in denial.
Jennifer: It’s, we have another program like, How to Have Those Hard Conversations, because how do you have that conversation with the family member like, we think you need to be, you know, to see a health care professional.
Jennifer: Because things just don’t seem the same with you anymore.
Jennifer: A lot of times people will come right out and say my dad has dementia or you know vascular dementia and I’m a caregiver or something to that effect so, yeah, I don’t know if there’s certain keywords, a lot of it is behavior and that goes along with our ten warning signs.
Jennifer: And again, that is on the website we have a program.
Jennifer: We’ve got a 30-minute program coming up that we’re going to host in March. They’re all free.
Jennifer: It’s virtual, which is great ’cause you can sit there and eat your lunch or whatever, and be a part of the program. But yeah, I mean anybody. And as I said before, no question is too big or too small.
Jennifer: So, if anybody ever wants to call the 1-800 line and ask the question or a question, we encourage people to do that.
Ryan: Thank you.
Jennifer: And I appreciate this opportunity, Ryan.
Jennifer: I know a lot of people have been on here doing my elevator speech for quite a few times. You know, quite a few times, but this is great to get to talk a little bit more about who we are and what we do and what I do in supporting the mission.
Ryan: And Jennifer, you have an event coming up on the 15th, correct?
Jennifer: We do, and I actually wrote that real big on the top of my paper so I wouldn’t forget it.
Jennifer: So, on February 15th at 6:30 on Zoom and I’ll put the Bitly in here if you want to register, UM, we, it’s The Longest Day Kickoff is to kick off the season, but even though that’s my campaign, that’s not what I’m most excited about.
Jennifer: We have Doctor Bruce Lamb who works for IU Health, but he is also on the National Alzheimer’s Direct, Board of Directors.
Jennifer: But he’s on our local Chapter Board of Directors, and he’s going to give research updates.
Jennifer: Our Executive director will give some chapter updates. It’s just a good chance for people to get some behind the scenes.
Jennifer: Information that you don’t typically get just from being a part of, you know, these conversations or being a part of another program.
Jennifer: Hold on here, let me get this in here I can’t type and type and talk at the same time.
Jennifer: That horrible, but here’s the link if you want to register for this.
Jennifer: And then we’ll also have, this is one of my most exciting parts, so we have what’s called a mission moment where people share their, share their stories.
Jennifer: And we’re going to talk, have a family, a husband-and-wife team talk, and How I Met them and Long story short, there was a Longest Day participant in the Cincinnati chapter who lost her father and wanted to do something to get back to him and honor him.
Jennifer: And so, she wanted to have a propane truck wrapped. And the company that she chose to do that wrap and what I mean by wrap, you know what it is- where you put a message on something, a car or automobile.
Jennifer: This was a propane truck and they’re using Sly fox out of India. Anna and so Sly Fox reached out to us. They needed access to high rez logos. This happened the other.
Jennifer: Well, the gentleman that was responsible for this project, he was a caregiver for his mother-in-law with Alzheimer’s.
Jennifer: So not only did it become a project for him, a work project, but he’s like, this is a personal mission ’cause this other lady, she’s going to spread awareness about this disease, and it’s just a really touching story, so the Stantons are going to talk about how they were caregivers, and you know how this project for Kevin was even more important than just any other project that he does so.
Jennifer: Yeah, huge opportunity if you can hop on there with this, it’s always fun.
Ryan: Does anyone have any other questions for Jennifer? Alright, let’s give Jennifer a hand for her presentation today.
Jennifer: Thank you everybody and thank you again, Ryan, for the opportunity.
Ryan: Well, thank you for coming today. It’s always good to learn about resources that are available here to help folks that all of us here may be connected to.
Links for more information
Alzheimer’s Association – The Longest Day – Indiana Chapter
Click to Dial the 24/7 Helpline – 1-800-272-3900
