PROVINCETOWN – The devastating effects Alzheimer’s and Dementia has on families is ever apparent. The same can be said about the need for sufficient care and services for the elderly who are struck with the disease.
Next week, the Alzheimer’s Family Support Center (AFSC) is holding a Walk for Alzheimer’s in Provincetown. All funds and donations raised from the walk will go directly towards funding the free services the center has to offer to families living with Alzheimer’s or Dementia.
“This is our largest fundraiser of the year. All of the funds that we raise stay on Cape Cod and go directly to fund free services. This year we have an anonymous donor that’s going to be matching our contributions dollar for dollar,” said AFSC Cultural Director Melanie Braverman.
The AFSC, a non-profit organization based out of Brewster, offers free counseling, training and education, arts events and memory screenings in all 15 towns across the Cape, with active support groups in each town.
There are approximately 10,000 family caregivers living on Cape Cod who are supporting a loved one diagnosed with Dementia or Alzheimer’s.
“We know that by last census count there were an estimated 10,000 families on Cape Cod living with individuals with some kind of Dementia disease in the care of anywhere from two to three family caregivers. There’s usually a primary caregiver and then a couple of people in second and third chairs. That means we have 30,000 caregivers and 10,000 people with the disease living on our little slit of land,” Braverman explained.
The AFSC’s mission is to provide a wide range of experienced and compassionate support to make the journey of caring for an individual with Alzheimer’s or Dementia easier on the families.
We also know that these are some of the most expensive diseases to care for, so this is one of our primary missions, to keep our services at no cost to the families who needs them. That means we need to rely on our community to help us raise the funds that we need to provide these services,” continued Braverman.
The Walk for Alzheimer’s will feature a community celebration with trolley rides, free lunch from Cosmos Catering, and live music by the Sound Dunes.
By TIM DUNN, CapeCod.com News Center
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