Join Us May 24 for a Conversation with Our 2021 Alzheimer’s Caregiving Award Winners

May 13, 2022

FCA is excited to present a panel discussion with the most recent winners of the nationally recognized Innovations in Alzheimer’s Caregiving Awards. Each year awardees are recognized for groundbreaking work in the field of Alzheimer’s caregiving.

In this special online event, you’ll hear from representatives from the three winning programs—“Art Is…In,” Elderwise, and CARE NYC—about their innovative work supporting people with Alzheimer’s disease and those who care for them.

Register Now! The panel discussion streams live May 24, 2022 from 11:00 a.m. to noon (Pacific Time).

Below is information about each program as well as quotes from those within the programs’ organizations and people who have benefited from the programs.

Creative Expression: “Art is…In”

“Art Is…In” is a technology-free, professionally curated art-at-home kit that engages and encourages meaningful creative expression for caregivers and individuals living with dementia, offered in partnership by GoldMind Arts and The Memory Center at University of Chicago Medicine.

Kaitlin Seibert, MD, Behavioral Neurology and Neuropsychiatry Fellow at the University of Chicago Medicine explains, “Through projects such as ‘Art Is…In,’ persons with dementia can celebrate having a means of expression, a sense of personhood, and a mode by which to connect with their families and loved ones even through the most advanced stages of disease.”

The reception of the “Art Is…In” reflects both excitement and deep appreciation. According to one caregiver, “This program gave my mom permission to express herself without rules, or rights or wrongs. The weekly activities were an opportunity to create new experiences in the face of a devastating disease.”

Another caregiver shared the kits create “a place where I can ease back to being a friend and daughter.”

Creative Expression: Elderwise

Using the Spirit-Centered Care® philosophy at its core, Elderwise teaches, models, and promotes culture change among caregivers, family members, and healthcare professionals to recognize the intrinsic value of each person and their capacity to live a rich and joyful life regardless of their cognitive or physical condition.

Their arts-based activities, guided discussion, and movement with music open the heart and mind to the awareness that cognitive losses do not eradicate the essence of a person, and the possibility that someone with memory loss can still expand in ways of the heart.

About Elderwise’s innovative programs, one participant shared, “Dementia takes so many things away. Elderwise gives the important things back. Tea and toast! Singing. Art-making and many creative moments. The joy of movement, companionship and a delicious food together. Conversations and deep sharing, so central to this long, often lonely journey.”

Elderwise Executive Director Annie Koziol can’t wait to put their award money to good use. “This award means that we can expand our reach within the local community and to bring our philosophy to the national stage.

Diverse/Multicultural Communities: CARE NYC

CARE NYC program provides support, education, and respite for caregivers in Latinx and immigrant communities in Queens, New York. The program advocates for marginalized caregiving communities by holding public presentations, participating in advocacy campaigns, and public speaking.

CARE NYC Program Director Sheila Williams shares,“Caregivers are heroes and they deserve services that are targeted to their individual needs. We’re proud that our hard work has been recognized with the Innovation in Alzheimer’s Caregiving Award.”

That targeted support includes connecting 1,400 caregivers annually to staff members who provide and connect them to a range of support services (i.e., counseling, support groups, education workshops, respite, and supplemental/financial resources) and community-based organizations in their native language.

Charles, a caregiver from Queens, New York, calls the program “a lifesaver…for me dealing with my wife’s dementia and mental illness.”

The Story of the Innovations in Alzheimer’s Caregiving Awards

The Innovations in Alzheimer’s Caregiving Awards are monetary awards to recognize organizations that are responding to a community need with a program or project that focuses primarily on family caregivers of adults with Alzheimer’s disease and related dementias.

With a grant from The Rosalinde and Arthur Gilbert Foundation, FCA launched the first annual Rosalinde Gilbert Innovations in Alzheimer’s Disease Caregiving Legacy Awards program in 2008. In 2018, the 11th year of the program, the Bader Philanthropies, Inc. joined as a funding partner as reflected in the new name — Innovations in Alzheimer’s Caregiving Awards.

Find Out More

To learn more about the Innovations in Alzheimer’s Caregiving Awards, please visit our website.