Developing Age and Dementia Friendly Communities: Sustainability, Partnerships, and Education

Kathleen Cameron, BSPharm, MPH, has more than 25 years of experience in the health care field as a pharmacist, researcher, and program director focusing on falls prevention, geriatric pharmacotherapy, mental health, long-term services and supports, and caregiving. Cameron is Senior Director of the NCOA Center for Healthy Aging, where she provides subject matter expertise on health care programmatic and policy related issues and oversees the Modernizing Senior Center Resource Center.

In 2015, leading organizations across the U.S. launched Dementia Friendly America (DFA) which is inspired by ACT on Alzheimer’s, an initiative out of Minnesota, that has created a movement across the U.S. to more effectively support and serve people living with dementia (PWD) and their caregivers. Dementia Friendly America is administered by the National Association of Area Agencies on Aging.  

Key Principles of dementia friendly communities are: (1) Include and involve PWD in the community effort, (2) Establish and maintain a team that works collaboratively to create change.  

The main objectives of dementia friendly communities as stated in the DFA Tool Kit are:  

Increase awareness and understanding of dementia and of PWD  

Increase awareness and understanding of brain health and risk reduction  

Collaborate with public, private, not-for-profit and health care sectors to better serve PWD and their caregivers  

Address the changing needs of PWD and caregivers 

Create social and cultural environments that are inclusive to PWD  

Improve the physical environment in public places and systems i.e. parks and transportation

David Quiroa has over 28 years of executive experience in the private club, hotel, Food and Beverage and Human Services fields. Mr. Quiroa has held both volunteer and professional prominent positions such as, Volunteer Interpreter at Civic Events, President and founder of the Guatemalan-American Alliance of RI, volunteer in the 2000 Census Campaign, member of the RI Red Cross and Community Emergency Response Team (CERT), past board member of the NAACP of Newport County, Child & Family Services, and The Newport County Fund of The Rhode Island Foundation. Mr. Quiroa has done extensive work within the immigrant community when he worked as Program Director and Press Secretary of the Center for Hispanic Policy and Advocacy, known as CHisPA. The last 19 years Mr. Quiroa has been with the Cranston Department of Senior Services, where he has served as the Retired Senior Volunteer Program Director, Acting Executive Director and now holds the permanent position of Assistant Director. During the pandemic, Mr. Quiroa lead the Food Security Program for homebound seniors, serving 5,000 meals per week. Mr. Quiroa, in Guatemala has served as a political consultant in Latin-American/US Bilateral Relations on 5 presidential campaigns, out of which 3 made it to inauguration.