Welcome to Dementia Friendly Indiana Communities, where each community is unique in it’s own way. Take a moment to look at why we believe building our communities is so important. You can find links to our active communities on this page and learn about what these Indiana communities are doing to change, support and foster friendships when our families find themselves faced with dementia.

*Community Listings Below*

What is a friend?

Did you know that loneliness presents a greater risk to our health than smoking and obesity? Our culture has unintentionally left many of us with less connections and relationships as we have worked to become more independent with our jobs and careers. Many of us move away from families and friends as we pursue our careers or our life circumstances may change. Many Americans are also less likely to be married or have children and or are widowed, leaving some of us aging alone without many connections. Others are too busy to check on aging neighbors. So it is no surprise that many of us report that we feel lonely.

So we should we consider being a friend to someone, because the feeling is reciprocated and is good for all of us. There is a whole bunch of good chemical releases and synapses formed in our brains when we connect! Giving us all a good brain health boost!

So, what does it mean to be a friend to your community and those who are affected by dementia?

There a many different types of friends, some are here for a while and move on, some stay around for life and some are simply social connections.

We can be any of these types of friends individually and dementia friendly communities encourages all of them! When a community as a whole becomes aware of the people who live there and when individuals or organizations know how to react to someone who is having brain change, it becomes a friendly and supportive community.

Our movement towards understanding that people who live with dementia still have rights and despite the disease, can live a good and active life, has sparked hope for communities all over Indiana! Finding a group of people committed to advocating for others or themselves through awareness and compassion shifts the focus from the disease to the person. Dementia does not discriminate, so we all could experience dementia someday, whether it is ourselves or through someone we know and love. So why not create a community that is capable of fostering good friendships as we age?

I hope what you read here today on this site inspires you to become a friend. Start by learning about these efforts through a Dementia Friends Session. Find others in your communities that also would like to be a friend or connect with the Communities listed below if your community has already started gathering to make a change.