Achi news desk-
Under the sunshine and alongside friends and family, residents of Westford Nursing Home in Port Elgin, NB, laced up their shoes on Friday for this year’s Alzheimer’s Walk.
“We have a number of younger residents here who have been diagnosed with Alzheimer’s so as long as they are giving back, a lot of them are almost giving back to themselves,” said Karen Coffin, activities coordinator .
Small groups of residents took the track around 500 meters as a way of making a difference and raising awareness.
“I think it’s important to support Alzheimer’s research because there is a history of Alzheimer’s and dementia in my family,” said resident Mark Webb, who said he thought about those members during that time.
Along the way there were also balloons and fact sheets about the disease.
Westford Nursing Home in New Brunswick hosted an Alzheimer’s Walk on May 24, 2024. (Source: Alana Pickrell/CTV News Atlantic)“I was certainly surprised by the number of people living with dementia and Alzheimer’s who are under 65 and the fact that so many more are being diagnosed under that age now and one of the big ones too is that 65 percent of those diagnosed with Alzheimer’s are women,” Coffin said.
Ninety-six-year-old Margaret O’Connor was one of the first to take part.
“I was a nurse, so I like to help people and when my daughter and I get together, this is what we do and it’s good,” she said. “It’s a good organisation, they do a lot of good work and I think it’s worth it.”
This is the first year since the COVID-19 pandemic the home has been able to invite family, friends and the community to be part of it and they went the extra mile with a barbecue, yard sale and farmers market.
Coffin says the hope was to raise money for the residents who call Westford home.
Westford Nursing Home in New Brunswick hosted an Alzheimer’s Walk on May 24, 2024. (Source: Alana Pickrell/CTV News Atlantic)“We have budgets that are given to us that cover their nursing needs, their physical needs and those kinds of things, when it comes to community needs and making connections in their communities. […] those things are not part of what we have a budget for,” he said.
June Tebo is a regular at the farmers market with her booth, In My Doghouse Treats, and she also works in Westford.
“This is a way that we can have our market, take our board fee that we would normally pay and give it to the nursing home,” he said. “There are many people who work here from the community. It’s about the community, so we’re all behind it.”
Westford Nursing Home in New Brunswick hosted an Alzheimer’s Walk on May 24, 2024. (Source: Alana Pickrell/CTV News Atlantic)Two separate financial goals were set for the event.
Residents were looking to raise $250 for the Alzheimer’s Society of New Brunswick – by lunchtime on Friday they had already surpassed that goal.
Through the yard sale, barbecue and market, the hope was to raise around $1,000 to go back to the residents in the form of activities and events including bus trips, community outings and Margaret’s favourite: “We go out for a cone ice cream, which I love,” he said.
Without the money being counted, Coffin says the whole day was a huge success.
“Community is huge and in a small town where everyone knows everyone and they’ve been closed off from the community since 2020, it’s really nice to be able to see people face to face and make that reconnect and chat and feel normal,” she said. “It’s lovely to see the smiles we got today.”
