Dementia Friendly Iowa
Dementia Friendly Iowa promotes change and education in communities across Iowa to create a more informed, safe, and respectful place for people living with dementia and their caregivers. As the number of people living with dementia in our state increases, so must public awareness and ability to serve this population in the state of Iowa.
Dementia Friendly Iowa seeks to make the state more dementia friendly through two initiatives- Dementia Friends and Dementia Friendly Communities. The movement is part of the greater Dementia Friendly America movement, and it is locally supported by the Northeast Iowa Area Agency on Aging (NEI3A), Iowa Association of Area Agencies on Aging (I4a), and the Iowa Geriatric Education Center. The initiative is staffed by NEI3A.
90%Older Iowans who want to "age in place" | 4thIowa's national rank of percentage of adults over 85 | 62,000people are living with dementia in Iowa |
Dementia Friendly Communities
This social movement is driven by the ever-increasing number of older adults living with dementia, demands on their family, and widely held misbeliefs, fear, and stigma about dementia. We strive to educate and engage the community to support persons living with dementia and their care partners.
Dementia Friends Iowa
Becoming a Dementia Friend will change the way you think, act, and talk about dementia. We teach you what it's like to live with dementia, how to decrease the stigma associated with the disease, and how a more safe and respectful place may be created for people living with dementia.
Dementia Friends University
This program is integrated into classroom curricula, enabling students, the future generation of practice change leaders, to become a Dementia Friend, thus increasing visibility campus-wide and advancing awareness and change in the larger community.