$25,000 donation advances dementia respite program

A few months ago, two area nonprofits, Rapp at Home and Aging Together, presented a program on dementia at the Rappahannock County Public Library. It drew a standing room only crowd.

Sperryville resident Eve Brooks was pleasantly surprised. She also was reassured that there’s a growing need in the county to provide support for both those in the early stages of dementia and those caring for them.

“People who are caretaking for folks with dementia or Parkinson’s are carrying a really huge load,” noted Brooks, who recently helped launch the Rappahannock Dementia Task Force. “And, of course, they’re all older themselves.”

That gathering sparked the formation of a caregivers’ support group of about a dozen local residents who now meet monthly.

Many of them will likely attend a follow-up program titled “Building Better Brain Habits,” which will be held at the library at 1 p.m. on Thursday, June 11. It will focus on learning practical strategies related to exercise, nutrition, sleep, mental stimulation and social connections, and also make people aware of the library’s dementia resources.

But Brooks said that’s only a starting point. The dementia task force, under the auspices of Rapp at Home, has started a fundraising campaign with the goal of launching a respite program designed to benefit local residents with mild dementia and their caregivers. Modeled after Blue Ridge Respite in Nelson County, it would center on twice-a-week sessions lasting four hours during which trained volunteers would engage and interact with mild dementia patients. That would also give their caregivers a much-needed break.

Brooks and other members of the taskforce took a field trip to Nelson County to see its respite program. “There was so much joy in that room,” remembers Brooks. “That was wonderful to see.”

If the necessary funds are raised, Rapp at Home will hire a person part-time to manage a local respite program, which would be held at Washington Baptist Church. That effort received a boost Monday when the Rappahannock County Benevolent Fund voted to make a $25,000 donation.

Each four-hour respite session would cost $50, but Brooks noted that that’s less than someone would pay for a professional caregiver.

Another priority of the task force is to make available information provided by Encompass Community Supports, the regional human services nonprofit, on such matters as where people can go for dementia testing and other related services.

For Brooks, there’s little question about the need for this initiative in Rappahannock, where more than 30% of the population is 65 or older. That’s almost twice the state average.

“At our age,” she said, “everybody fears that they’re going to lose their memory.”