On Dementia: Care, Community, and Creativity: You’re Invited

“On Dementia” Book Series Features Conversations with Leaders in Elder Care! 

The Frye Art Museum in Seattle, WA, in partnership with Aging Wisdom and the University of Washington Memory and Brain Wellness Center presents On Dementia: Care, Community, and Creativity, a series of three conversations with leaders in elder care who have published books in 2020 that bring hope, connection, and joy to adults living with dementia, their care partners, families, friends, and those who provide support. Each program will be a Zoom webinar, including an interview with the author, readings from their new book, and questions from the audience. Participants are not required to attend all three conversations in the series.

2 – 3 p.m. Thursday March 11    Learn more and REGISTER: https://fryemuseum.org/program/creative_aging_workshops

Join Lynn Casteel Harper, author of On Vanishing: Mortality, Dementia, and What It Means to Disappear, in conversation with Marigrace Becker, Program Manager, Community Education and Impact, UW Medicine Memory and Brain Wellness Center.

Expanding our understanding of dementia beyond progressive vacancy and dread, On Vanishing makes provides encouragement and meaningful examples of better ways of caring for, and thinking about, our fellow beings. Weaving together personal stories with theology, history, philosophy, literature, and science, Harper confronts our elemental fears of disappearance and death, drawing on her own experiences with people living with dementia both in the American healthcare system and within her own family. It is a rich and startling work of nonfiction that reveals cognitive change as an essential aspect of what it means to be mortal.

Lynn Casteel Harper a minister, chaplain, and essayist. Her work has appeared in Kenyon Review Online, North American Review, and Catapult magazine. She is a Barbara Deming Fund grant recipient and the winner of the 2017 Orison Anthology Prize in Nonfiction. She lives in New York City and is currently the minister of older adults at The Riverside Church.

2 – 3 p.m. Thursday April 8    Learn more and REGISTER: https://fryemuseum.org/program/creative_aging_workshops

Join Susan H. McFadden, PhD, author of Dementia-Friendly Communities: Why We Need Them and How We Can Create Them, in conversation with Keri Pollock, Director of Marketing and Communications, Aging Wisdom.

Intentional, thoughtfully engaged dementia-friendly communities can give people with dementia the opportunity to continue living with purpose, reciprocal personal relationships, and enrichment. A positive thread throughout Dementia-Friendly Communities is that “underpinning successful dementia-friendly communities is an awareness of people with dementia as active citizens, and the importance of supporting engagement in community life.”

Susan H. McFadden, PhD, is an experienced researcher and practitioner in the field of dementia. She was formerly Professor of Psychology at the University of Wisconsin Oshkosh and co-founded Fox Valley Memory Project (FVMP), whose vision is to help create dementia-friendly communities. She is co-author, with her husband John, of “Aging Together: Dementia, Friendship, and Flourishing Communities.”

 2 – 3 p.m. Thursday May 13    Learn more and REGISTER: https://fryemuseum.org/program/creative_aging_workshops

Join Anne Basting, PhD, author of Creative Care: A Revolutionary Approach to Dementia and Elder Care, in conversation with Mary Jane Knecht, Manager, Creative Aging Programs, Frye Art Museum.

A MacArthur Genius Grant recipient, Basting pioneers a radical change in how we interact with people who struggle with dementia. Basting’s proven methods use storytelling and active listening to stimulate the brain and awaken imagination. Rooted in twenty-five years of research, “Creative Care” offers encouragement and creative techniques on how to bring connection, light and joy to the lives of elders and to those who care for them.

Anne Basting, PhD is a leader in transforming aging and elder care and a recipient of a MacArthur Genius Grant. She is the founder of the nonprofit Timeslips, which implements her innovative approach to memory care, and is the author of three previous books, “The Stages of Age,” “Forget Memory,” and “The Penelope Project.” Her work as founding director of University of Wisconsin Milwaukee’s Center for Age and Community was also featured in the PBS documentary “The Penelope Project” (2011).