Marion County recently became Iowa’s eighth county to join the Dementia Friendly Community initiative in the state. State Coordinator and Pella Resident Meagan Zimmerman says that the goal of the initiative is to educate communities about dementia and understand how to interact with it.

“There is a lot of stigma out there and a lot of misconceptions surrounding dementia, so our goal is to help equip community members so they can feel comfortable approaching people living with dementia. We know that the majority of people living with dementia live in communities, they’re interacting with the rest of the community, going to their faith based organizations, the restaurants, and just being involved in the greater community. So, we want to help the community support those individuals.”

Hear more about the Dementia Friendly Community initiative on today’s In Touch with South Central Iowa.