Rittenhouse Village At Portage offers a self-care group known as a support group that is used for caregivers caring for their loved ones that have memory care loss for dementia or Alzheimer's. The groups are typically for the residents that live at Rittenhouse Village and other families in the community, as well.
The need for a support group for memory loss increased in the community. Families became exhausted as more people’s loved ones lived at home.
Everyone at the meeting is able to share their story, which helps not only others in the meeting, but also Rittenhouse staff.
“I love the fact that they are comfortable enough with sharing their stories,” said Memory Care Programming Director Angel Ripley. “Then they could get other people's stories, so they don't feel so alone.”
While Ripley working with the people that are living with Alzheimer's and dementia, she was who earned that their families really just need the support group. She started the group at Rittenhouse Village few years ago, then partnered with Alzheimer’s & Dementia Services of Northern Indiana (ALZNI). The staff at Rittenhouse Village raised a lot of money for the ALZNI, which goes right back to the community.
The Alzheimer’s & Dementia Services of Northern Indiana helped with coaching the staff of Rittenhouse Village on how to get the support group started. Ripley thinks it has been successful so far.
The program director for the ALZNI is Joseph Collins. His role for the group is offering support for the support group leaders, Ripley and Danielle Walker Balek.
The organization covers 11 different counties as they do quarterly training for the group leaders to figure out what works best or what doesn't work. During training the support leaders learn how to not only run a support group but also how to be there for those members in the support group whether that's working with different personalities or how to keep the groups running smoothly.
“Having that extra support from an organization like ours I think is really helpful for Rittenhouse Village’s support group,” said Collins.
The support groups that ALZNI are geared toward caregivers. Collins is working on creating a support group for early-onset dementia and share it throughout their service area.
ALZNI’s quarterly newsletter, as well as a hotline, is sent every month and receives anywhere from 10 to 20 calls a month from the 11 counties ALZNI is in. It also runs 12 to 14 support groups in these counties. Their goal over the next several years is to spread these programs into all of Northwest Indiana, so ALZNI and Collins himself travel to all 11 counties to provide that awareness to the communities of their services.
Alzheimer’s & Dementia Services of Northern Indiana is getting ready to have a big event on September 25th from 9:00 a.m. to noon at the Southlake Mall in Merrillville. They're having a standby walk and resource fair which will have many vendors set up from assisted living and independent living, to even insurance financial advisors' realtors that specialize with seniors.
For more information on Alzheimer’s & Dementia Services of Northern Indiana you can visit https://alzni.org.
For more information on Rittenhouse Village of Portage you can visit https://www.rittenhousevillages.com/rittenhouse-village-at-portage/ or contact 219-764-2900 to schedule a tour.