Thanks for subscribing to the Memory Hub Newsletter, your source of the latest news, events, and resources at our vibrant community center for people living with memory loss, their families, and all who support a dementia-friendly community. This dynamic space is operated by the UW Memory and Brain Wellness Center, alongside partners the Frye Art Museum, the Alzheimer's Association, Elderwise, and Full Life Care.

thememoryhub.org 

• Our care consultant from the Alzheimer's Association acts as “Memory Navigator" to provide free 30-minute appointments to help you get connected with helpful memory loss resources. Learn more.

• Visit our Frame of Mind exhibit or view the virtual gallery. Learn about the featured artists!

• Our library/resource room provides a wide array of books about living well with memory loss and caregiving. View our titles.

• Maude's Garden, Washington's first public memory garden, offers a botanical oasis at the Memory Hub and hosts garden programs and art exhibits. Learn more.

Steve Wilson is a Care Consultant for the Alzheimer’s Association and provides free social work consultations with the Memory Navigator program at the Memory Hub. He helps people with memory loss and care partners get connected to helpful resources for via free in-person, phone, or virtual consults. Serving people at the Memory Hub means he can also connect families to a wide array of engagement, education, and support opportunities. Steve has worked as a music therapist in long term care homes in many different locations. In this spotlight he talks about his expanding work at the Memory Hub and shares some updates.

In the Dancing Together project, Artist in Resident Dr. Julia Becke is holding weekly dance-making sessions at the Memory Hub and Skyline. This project will culminate in a final performance on December 11, in which participants will act as co-creators of the dance movements.

We've now had 5 weekly Dancing Together sessions at Skyline as well as at the Memory Hub with Elderwise and other community members. Dancers in all classes have been working hard, bringing their creative energy, focus and good humor, along with their lovely singing voices. We've spent a good amount of time getting familiar with the class format, using repetition and familiar music to explore story telling through movement as well as some classical dance forms. >>> 

On October 29th, the 'Memory Hub Mingle' Fall Open House drew about one hundred visitors, both new and familiar, to engage with and learn about the resources available here from the UW Medicine UW Memory and Brain Wellness Center and all of our partner organizations: Alzheimer's Association, Washington State Chapter, Elderwise, Full Life Care, Frye Art Museum.

Memory Hub Open House attendees gather in the community room for food and live harp music.

Participants contributed to the Dementia-Friendly CommuniTree, by writing messages onto paper leaves and adding them to the branches. They answered questions such as what does being part of a dementia-friendly community mean to you?

In Maude's Garden, attendees got a taste of nature-inspired projects done in the Garden Discovery program. People made their own botanical weavings and explored the garden.

Learn about all support, education, and engagement programs hosted at the Memory Hub, offered by the UW Memory and Brain Wellness Center and our on-site collaborators:

Dancing Together: A seated dance and movement class for people with memory loss and their caregivers.

Wednesdays, October 23 - December 4, 1-2pm PT

Join the Memory Hub Artist in Residence Dr. Julia Becke for a taste of her Dancing Together program! Throughout the class, we’ll move together to music, exploring different dance styles and having fun with familiar songs. Based on adaptive dance programs for people with cognitive impairment developed by Canada’s National Ballet School, Dancing Together is also appropriate for people who require assistive mobility devices such as canes, walkers and wheelchairs.

No dance experience necessary. Free and open to the public - just drop in!

Questions: Marigrace, 206-543-1440, mbecker1@uw.edu

Class offered by Dr. Julia Becke, Memory Hub 2024 Artist in Residence, UW Medicine Physician

Flyer

Welcome to our new Dementia Friends at the Port Angeles Senior & Community Center! Thank you to Olympic Area Agency on Aging - Information & Assistance for leading this information session.

• November 2024 Dementia Friends Events

• Follow Dementia Friends Washington on Facebook

Photo courtesy Jonathan Vanderweit

Dániel Somogyi. View of Königssee, 1878. Image courtesy, Frye Art Museum

In today's November Garden Discovery Program, the group explored the fall garden full of flowers and seed heads, savored herbal tea, and shared thoughts about what they noticed and felt grateful for.

Participants learned the sensory joy of harvesting chive seeds from dried chive flower heads, cut from Maude's garden. As we tapped the dried chive flowers inside a paper cup, we all heard a wonderful sound as the seeds fell and the seed pods crunched. In the nature-inspired project, Dawn Robinson demonstrated how to create glass votives decorated with fall leaves. "I think this is really pretty and I'll enjoy it so much.

"Since I've acquired memory loss, so much of my day is filled with thoughts of "I can't do this anymore" -- and this is like the opposite of that. It was fun and simple and flies in the face of what I can't do anymore. It's nice to be in the frame of reference of things I can do."

The Garden Discovery Program is a partnership between Seattle Parks and Recreation and UW Memory and Brain Wellness Center. The Garden Discovery Program is a program for people living with memory loss and their caregivers and is made possible by support from Aegis Living Assisted Living and Memory Care communities.

Community Resources

• The African American Caregivers Forum, “Legacy of Love,” takes place 10 a.m. – 3 p.m. Saturday November 2 at the Northwest African American Museum in Seattle. This unique, culturally focused event brings together family and professional caregivers for an opportunity to review, refresh and connect.

• Jefferson County Memory Café at Reveille Café continues every first Monday of the month. Come together for food, conversation and connection with others living with memory loss and their families. Next session 1-2 p.m. Monday November 4.

• From November 21 - 24, Seattle Opera presents Lucidity, an opera exploring themes of music and memory. Several Memory Hub partners will be sharing in post-event discussions. 

• HOPE Dementia Support in Clark County offers a growing number of support groups for people with memory loss and caregivers, in person and over Zoom. Learn more

• Orcas Senior Center in the San Juan Islands is the latest group in Washington State to work with Dementia Friendly America to commit to creating a dementia-friendly community in their region. Learn more about their work and get involved.