This year, 350,000 people will join 600 Walk to End Alzheimer’s events across America. Dr. Kay Lehmann, Board Chair of the Alzheimer’s Association in the state of Washington, joins Suzanne Newman to talk about what goes on at the Alzheimer’s Walks. Suzanne encourages everyone to sign up to make a difference, or donate to the cause or one of the walking teams.
What goes on at one of the walks? Kay says, “On the day of the walk, volunteers are there early, and we’re setting up things like the Promise Garden, which is these flowers you see in my background. Each person at the walk gets a flower: it’s a little windmill flower, so they move, and that makes just a beautiful display on walk day. People who have Alzheimer’s or dementia carry a blue flower. Those of us like Suzanne and I who’ve lost somebody, we carry a purple flower. People who are caregivers carry a yellow flower. Caregivers get a yellow flower and those who are there to support our cause carry an orange flower.
“We have a little chance to celebrate success and pump people up for the walk they’re about to take, and we have a little ceremony where we have each person holding their flower. There’s one flower color that was released a few years ago and we only have one at each walk and it always just brings tears to my eyes. It’s the white flower, usually carried by a child, but not always. It symbolizes survivors of Alzheimer’s. And right now we don’t have survivors, but we have one white flower there each year, so that we show the hope that we will one day have this walk and have lots of white flowers carried by survivors of Alzheimer’s and dementia.”
How do people participate? Kay says, “Teams range from one person on their own to family members. We have lots of businesses, sometimes each department – or each dealership or whatever it might be – registers a separate team, and then they compete to see which team can raise the most money. Some of the teams make their own T shirts celebrating a loved one. And a lot of our sponsors often have a booth at the walk where people can get information, but they also often have a team and do the walk.
“The walks are usually about a mile long, they’re a comfortable pace. This is not a race. This is not a run. This is a gentle walk with friends and family. And we do often have people there who have the disease, usually in the earlier stages. But we do try to pick a site where people could use a wheelchair if they needed to, or a walker.
“So we want people to not only register a team, but raise money. And there’s lots of ways to raise money. It doesn’t have to be the day of the walk. You could put it on Facebook and ask friends and family. One colleague had a square jar in his office, and they raised a couple hundred bucks.”
Visit alz.org/walk and enter your zip code to find the Walk nearest you to register or donate. Check out alz.org to learn more. Reach master level clinicians at their 24/7 help line at 800-272-3900.
Hear more podcasts about the Walks: https://answersforelders.com/tag/alzheimers-walks/
* Check out our affiliate podcast Alzheimer’s Speaks: https://alzheimersspeaks.com/
