Photo: historicpeninsulainn.com

2018 Memory Café Update
Jane Ogilvie
1/4/18

This February will mark the 1st Anniversary for the Gulfport Memory Café. Co-Founder Cate McCarty, PhD of Dr. Cate Dementia Coach and I create an interesting program to accompany the monthly lunchtime get together @ Neptune Grill Restaurant. Working with manager Dia and server Evelyn has allowed us to make the dining experience easier for people living with dementia and their full time in-home caregivers, as well as for the restaurant staff. We’re still meeting every 3rd Monday from 12:15-2pm.

This monthly Memory Café experience is beneficial in more than one way.
1. First, Memory Cafes create a relaxed atmosphere to socialize in with other dementia aware and understanding others.
2. Secondly, through this event, we’ve succeeded in helping people to decrease feelings of isolation that some people living with dementia may experience.
3. We’ve brought people together that share the desire to live more fully, remain engaged with life, challenge dementia norms, and push previously accepted limits.
4. Friendships have formed and through the group, a stronger sense of support. These are some of the goals of the Purple Angel Global Dementia Awareness project.

Last August we created a 2nd Memory Café with Cate and Jane event for folks in St. Petersburg, Fl. This monthly event is held every 2nd Monday from 11am-1pm at Carrabba’s Italian Grill on 4th St. N. Having a second location opens Memory Café up to a larger group of people who enjoy having a meal with other people, being inspired or inspiring others, and to receive and provide an effective form of support.

In the last months of 2017 a 3rd event called the Tyrone Walking Club & Memory Café began. Walking Club gives people an opportunity to enjoy getting more exercise in before sitting down to have lunch at Red Robin Gourmet Burgers. Stimulating activities promoting engagement are planned for this event as they are at the other two Memory Café events.

In 2018 we plan to add additional events to increase our footprint and continue to raise dementia awareness locally. We will continue efforts to reach out to the business community and bring an increased level of dementia awareness to them too.

To RSVP for any of these monthly events with Cate and Jane, or to discuss how your business can become more dementia friendly, click on Further Information to contact me via email.