Fifteen years ago I began working with Active Older Adults at the YMCA. I worked there for 5 years and then found a job at Lake Prince Woods a continuing care retirement community. I get to do the programming for the residents in our Residential Living. The folks I get to work with are the reason I Walk.
The before and after of Alzheimer’s has been an education for me. From being active in exercise classes to being bedridden, from going on all the outings to being unable to find their room, from lead singer to mute, from husband and wife to patient and caregiver I’ve worked with folks through the realities of the disease.
I see one resident in particular whenever I reflect. She lead all of our exercise classes, she showed our movies, called bingo, made popcorn, rode around campus on an awesome contraption that was both a bike and a scooter. She loved the beach and had an amazing collection of beach glass. As she began the gradual process I watched her and her husband and children. I will always have them in my heart and the lessons learned from her. I love the residents of our community and I walk for their future and mine.
Alzheimer's Association Southeastern Virginia Chapter 