Alzheimer’s Foundation of America Launches “Remember Together” Campaign to Raise Awareness about Memory Screening

The Alzheimer’s Foundation of America (AFA) is organizing a public awareness campaign to remember the importance of keeping memories alive. As part of the campaign, they are asking people to share beloved memories by posting old photos on their social networks using the hashtag #RememberTogether. The Remember Together campaign is one of the initiatives from the nonprofit organization dedicated to helping people suffering from dementia, and all of the photo posts will be gathered on their website at RememberTogetherAFA.org.

The campaign aims to raise awareness about both Alzheimer’s disease and the need for healthy people to do memory screening. In addition, there is also a photo contest that awards two winning photos every month. One of the winners will be selected by the foundation randomly and the other by popularity, and both of them will be awarded with a digital photo frame for displaying favorite memories. The photos can be submitted through Twitter or Instagram, with the #RememberTogether hashtag, or directly on the RememberTogetherAFA.org website.

“Remember Together is a friendly and impassioned call-to-action to the public to celebrate their memories, create new ones with family and friends, and help protect their memories and those of their loved ones by getting screened for memory issues,” explained the president and CEO of the Alzheimer’s Foundation of America, Charles J. Fuschillo, Jr. “There is a persistent stigma associated with Alzheimer’s disease that prevents people from talking about it and taking action that could ultimately help improve quality of life. We aim to reduce the stigma and encourage people to seek early detection and proper treatment.”

The campaign was launched to celebrate the AFA’s National Memory Screening Day, which is today, as well as National Alzheimer’s Awareness Month all throughout November. In addition, the campaign aims to support the foundation’s rollout of free and confidential year-round memory screenings, which take place at community sites all over the country. Since 2003, thanks to the foundation’s campaigns and the national awareness month, thousands of people had already received memory screenings.

 

The foundation has been dedicated to increasing the number of memory screening resources provided to patients, and has been working in collaboration with several organizations and healthcare professionals in the United States, including Alzheimer’s agencies, doctors’ offices, senior centers, long-term care residences, in-home care agencies, hospitals, houses of worship, libraries, pharmacies, and other community organizations. The AFA offers healthcare professionals the tools to conduct memory screenings at no cost in order to improve the diagnosis of diseases such as Alzheimer’s.

Memory screenings are critical in the early detection of dementia, making it possible for patients to start treatment and begin engaging in legal and financial planning with families, share their care wishes, decide on treatments to improve quality of life, and consider participating in clinical trials. The exam consists of a series of questions or tasks to test the patients’ memory, language skills, thinking ability, and other intellectual functions, and even though it is not a diagnosis, a free 10-minute screening exam is enough to reassure a patients health or to advice to seek a physician.

The campaign also aims to support the AFA Community Memory Screening and Awareness-Raising Education: The Road to Early Detection and Care (C.A.R.E.S.), a new program dedicated to expand memory screenings year-round, which is supported by a Edward N. and Della L. Thome Memorial Foundation grant, from the Bank of America, N.A., Trustee.