The pandemic brought in a lot of changes for everyone. For the Alzheimer Society of Saskatchewan, the inability to meet in person opened up more opportunities as they moved most of their resources over to the virtual world and started providing support online.
“We couldn’t meet with our clients in person, but we still wanted to provide support to people with dementia and their families. So we opted for Zoom,” said Jennifer Froese, the first link co-ordinator with the Sun Country Resource Centre Alzheimer Society of Saskatchewan.
“The Alzheimer Society hasn’t closed at all during the pandemic. We were all working from home. Dementia hasn’t stopped. We still want to support clients in meaningful ways. We had to take that moment to pause and think about how we can serve our clients in ways that were going to be the best for them.”
They started trying the virtual support system in early June with Coffee and Chat meetings. These are informal online gatherings for people with dementia and their care partners. Alzheimer Society of Saskatchewan staff and peers usually meet for a coffee or tea and just check on each other.
Shortly after that, support groups started setting up as well. Froese noted that now that the summer is almost over they are getting back into the swing and are hoping to see more people taking advantage of the online support system.
The new format allows patrons from distant places to access the services, which means that support groups now can cover the entire province.
Froese noted that some of the groups weren’t open to people in rural communities, as they were set in bigger centres.
“I really feel that for us in our rural communities it definitely opened up the support groups and some other programs we are running like Minds in Motion, which is a physical activity group, plus they have a social aspect of it. That was only open in Regina, Saskatoon and Prince Albert. But now our rural communities can join. So I’m really excited for us,” said Froese.
There are five support groups that are now held over Zoom and draw members from all across the province.
“It’s nice to meet other people with dementia or their family members from across the province. The journeys are different,” said Froese.
The groups are kept relatively small and intimate, but there is always room for new participants. People are asked to register for support groups at least a day or two prior to the meetings.
The caregiver support group is for someone who is caring for someone with dementia living in the community or in a care facility. The group meets first Wednesday of the month from 9:30-11:30 a.m. For more information and to register contact Arianna at [email protected].
The frontal temporal dementia spousal group is for spouses that are supporting their partners who have been diagnosed with frontal temporal dementia or a variant of FTD. The group meets the fourth Wednesday of the month from 4:30–6 p.m.
Sandwich Club is a group for caregivers who are caring for someone with dementia while balancing a family and career. The group meets every second Tuesday of the month from 4:30-6 p.m. For more information on these two groups and to register contact is Connie at [email protected].
Early stage support group is a group for people with dementia in the early stages of the disease. This group provides a place for people with dementia to come together and connect with others. They meet the third Wednesday of the month from 10:30-11:30 a.m.
The young carers group is for people between the ages of 20-45 who are looking to meet others who are providing support to a parent or grandparent with dementia. Group meets every second Thursday of the month from 4:30-6 p.m. For more information on the above two groups and to register contact is Alice at [email protected].
Outside the formal support groups, the Alzheimer Society of Saskatchewan continues with the Coffee and Chat virtual meets.
“That’s a more informal group to have some fun and talk about whatever is brought up. A lot of it is really Saskatchewan. We talked about the harvest and Saskatoon berries,” said Froese.
This group meets every Friday from 10:30-11:30 a.m. To registered people can contact Carlie at [email protected].
All registrations also can also be done over the phone or on the website at https://alzheimer.ca/en/sk. If anyone with a diagnosis or without one has questions, they can call Froese at 306-842-2273 or email her at [email protected].
