Is your organization ready to step up and begin a community-wide conversation about how to better support local citizens living with dementia and their family and friend care partners?

The Dementia Friendly America Initiative is catalyzing a movement to more effectively support and serve those across America who are living with dementia and their family and friend care partners. LeadingAge is among the 35 national organization leaders of the initiative that have developed tools and resources to help communities to convene, participate in and support dementia friendly community efforts at a local level.

The Dementia-Friendly Toolkit guides communities through a research-informed process that fosters adoption of dementia-friendly practices in all parts of community. The toolkit is designed to be flexible and adapt to fit a community’s needs and complement other project management processes. The four phases are: Convene, Engage, Analyze, and Act. Successful implementation of the community toolkit requires strong leadership, dedicated team members and well-developed work plans. The time commitment for completing the four phases varies and has ranged anywhere from six to eighteen months.

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Rachel Monger, JD, LACHA is President/CEO. Rachel joined LeadingAge Kansas in 2011 as the Director of Government Affairs and has been a powerful voice for our membership ever since. Rachel is a Kansas licensed attorney and adult care home administrator. She received her bachelor’s degree from Bard College at Simon’s Rock in Great Barrington, MA, and her Juris Doctorate from the University of Kansas School of Law. Over the years, Rachel has served in many volunteer roles in her community and in the state of Kansas to support senior needs, aging services education, and community mental health services. She is also a member of the Board of Governors for the Kansas Health Care Stabilization Fund. As an award-winning trial lawyer, turned award-winning senior care advocate, she has spent nearly two decades passionately supporting quality of care and quality of life for Kansas seniors. When not at work, Rachel loves reading, crafting, volunteering with her church, and spending time with her partner Steven. You can reach Rachel directly at 785.670.8046.