Last month, I completed an online course on library services for people living with memory loss. As of 2019, over 5.8 million people in the United States suffer from Alzheimer’s dementia, with the numbers projected to keep growing. The course covered the importance of serving those who are caregivers for loved ones with memory loss. Potential resources and programming on raising awareness and education were showcased. Mental stimulation, lifelong learning, and social interaction are the key to the prevention of dementia. A good reminder I received that will further enlighten my work on the creation of Memory Kits for library circulation is that, instead of talking about what a person with dementia cannot do because of their condition, it is important to look at what a person facing memory loss can still do (i.e. do not ask the individual to remember, rather ask what a prompt makes them think of).
