Memory Care Library Blog > Staff and Public Education > Tips and Tricks for Getting Started on a Memory Care Initiative
Tips and Tricks for Getting Started on a Memory Care Initiative
Tips and Tricks for Getting Started on a Memory Care Initiative
- Staff first! Consider a 60-day easy-to-do training and awareness e-mail. Use these graphics and send one every workday to all staff. Within 60-days your internal staff strengths will have increased, lots of conversations will have already been done, and you’ve enhanced the dynamic of being a senior friendly library in an important area for service.
- Partners Next! Consider a roundtable event with potential partners to discuss these initiatives and the potential available for access to expert speakers, medically trained professionals, event spaces, and outreach/in-reach partners. Starting the conversation is just the beginning of growth in this portfolio. Consider these services in your community:
- Alzheimer’s Association
- Dementia-friendly Communities
- Memory Care Facilities and Senior Centers
- Healthcare Providers and Social Service Agencies
- Aging and Gerontology Organizations
- Nonprofit Organizations
- Community Support Groups
- Local Universities, Colleges, and Research Institutions
- Then Collections! Acquire some tools, games, toys, and more that enhance memory care programming, test them out, consider what items are just for in-library usage and which could comprise a borrowable collection.
- Ready, Aim, Try! Program Pilots are where to start. Designate some staff team to investigate, try, and evaluate a seniors memory care program series while learning from successes and failures. Pilot with experimental programs including those desired by your community or partners.
- Consider posting these graphics every week – you’ve potentially got a year’s worth of 52 of them. Some of these are copyright-free and other’s can be posted using the links provided.
Need some advice or desire a conversation? We’re looking for beta partners to test our ideas and respond in focus groups. Let us know. Following are some of our carefully curated infographics and images.