Westmont, Illinois -- Date Issued: November 4, 2022
At their November 3 meeting, the Westmont Village Board approved a Dementia Friendly Westmont Awareness Proclamation. “I want to thank Mary Ferguson from the Birches Assisted Living Center and Susan Frick from Rush Alzheimer’s Disease Center for their leadership and hard work in helping the Village of Westmont be a Dementia Friendly community,” said Mayor Ron Gunter. “As a result of this effort, our community is better prepared to assist and serve people with dementia and their caregivers.”
Some of the themes captured in the proclamation include:
- More than 5 million Americans are living with Alzheimer’s disease and related dementia
- 16 million Americans provide unpaid care for people with Alzheimer’s or other dementias
- This degenerative brain disorder can strike adults at any age; and,
- There are over 230,000 Illinois residents over 65 living with Alzheimer’s, 9.5% of residents over the age of 45 have subjective cognitive decline, and 383,000 family caregivers bearing the burden of this disease
- The Westmont Dementia Friendly Advisory Committee encourages the Village, residents, business and services of Westmont to break the stigma and fear of exclusion attached to Alzheimer’s disease and other dementia
- Through education and awareness, our Dementia Friendly Advisory Committee continues to build Westmont into a Dementia Friendly Community that supports those living with dementia and their care partners to maintain an active role in our community
For more information, please visit our Dementia-Friendly Westmont webpage on the village website - westmont.illinois.gov.
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