DFL donates toward library dementia resources

Members of the Waseca County DFL party recently pooled together their donations to help the Waseca Library purchase backpack take-home kits for families and caregivers interacting with adults experiencing dementia.

 

County DFL chair Deb Hogenson explained that, after considering a number of potential causes to donate money toward, party members decided to support families dealing with dementia because a number of their members have been touched by the issue.

 

Hogenson’s husband of nearly 50 years, Doug Bauman, suffered from dementia prior to his death in 2023.

 

Party member Diana Welander, of Waseca, has become a caregiver to Steve, her husband of 55 years, now 74.

 

“You just have no idea what it’s like until you have Alzheimer’s in your own family,” Diana observed. As the individual loses memories and abilities, she describes, it becomes more and more difficult to find common ground.

 

“Packets like these will really help with that,” she commented.

 

Each backpack kit contains different resources, the idea being that each one will be useful in different ways. Included in most of them are simple jigsaw puzzles that feature pictures appealing to adults, but have no more than 60 pieces. Packets of cards with photos or questions for discussion to encourage recall are in some of the backpacks. Reusable activities such as fade-away “paint with water” pictures are also in some of the packets.

 

“The whole idea is to provide some options,” said Hogenson. “As the symptoms of dementia continue, one of the biggest losses is that victims and families lose their sense of connection.

 

“These activities can help with preserving some of those connections and so it will improve everyone’s quality of life.”

 

Anyone wishing to use the resource backpacks can check them out from the Waseca Library. Materials for kits currently available for use were made possible by donations both from the Waseca County DFL party and the Waseca Caregivers organization.

 

National statistics on the issue of dementia reveal that any individual’s risk of developing the condition is only about 4 percent at age 65, but increases dramatically with each 5 years of age, until an average 85-year-old has a risk of somewhere between 20 and 30 percent, with the condition being more common in females.