Cafe Chatter Newsletter
December 2021
Now over 1,500 Subscribers!
Table of Contents:
- This month’s sponsor: Dementia Society of America
- A new format! Looking for your opinion!
- Memory Cafe Updates
- Featured Resource: A Mind to Care
- Recent News
- Dementia Map Sampler
- Ongoing Favorites
Dementia Society of America
This month’s Cafe Chatter is sponsored by Dementia Society of America (DSA). They are the nation’s leading volunteer-driven “all-Dementias” awareness organization.
DSA provides an information hotline (1-800-DEMENTIA™), many online resources and an easy-to-use, web-based locator, which can assist families and individuals in finding valuable support near to them. Visit them at www.dementiasociety.org.
Memory Cafe Directory appreciates their support!
A New Format!
To finish out 2021, I’d like your opinion. In an attempt to improve readability on mobile devices, I am experimenting with publishing the newsletter right here on Memory Cafe Directory. Sure, you received an email, alerting you to the December edition, but if you’re reading this, you clicked on the link and played along.
It was brought to my attention the monthly Cafe Chatter newsletters, when viewed on some mobile devices, were difficult to read. The width, graphics formatting, non-wrapping lines of text, and more – were all contributing to this difficulty.
Share Your Thoughts!
Please let me know in the comments below what you think of this new format. Is it easier to read either on a computer or a phone? Would you prefer not to click a link in the email to read the newsletter? Is the text easier to read, or do you prefer to read Cafe Chatter as an email?
All comments are welcomed! Your feedback will help me improve how I serve you in 2022 and beyond!
Thank you!
Memory Cafe Updates
Another huge month for updates! Thank you to everyone who has submitted updated information. Many changes, but a number of new and removed Memory Cafes this month. Every update improves the information available to you!
A special thank you to Beth Soltzberg of Jewish Family & Children’s Service in Waltham, Massachusetts. Beth facilitates a statewide directory of Memory Cafes in Massachusetts. We work very closely together to keep our information in synch. Through the help of her volunteers, she provided a large number of updates this month. Thank you, Beth!
REMINDER: Please check the Memory Cafe Directory listing for your favorite Memory Cafe. Either look on the STATE/PROVINCE/REGION page for your country or on the Cafe Connect calendar for virtual Memory Cafes. Please continue to ensure everything is up to date – especially the IN PERSON listings. Thank you!
In Person
New!
- MA, East Bridgewater
- PA, Bethlehem
- MN, Winona (Hybrid format: both in person and virtual!)
- WI, Ashland
- WI, Oconto Falls
Changed
- IL, South Elgin (contact; description)
- MA, Arlington (on hold during pandemic)
- MA, Boston’s Chinese speaking Memory Cafe (schedule)
- MA, Dorchester (now meeting online only)
- MA, Greenfield (schedule; sponsors)
- MA, Ipswich (schedule)
- MA, Ludlow (name; location; schedule; contact)
- MA, Marion (returned to in person operation)
- MA, Middleboro (on hold during pandemic)
- MA, Millbury (description)
- MA, Millis (on hold during pandemic; Zoom option removed)
- MA, Nahant (schedule)
- MA, Shelburne Falls (removed “Drive-in” cafes)
- MA, Shrewsbury (restarted in person with Hybrid format!)
- WI, Eagle (contact; description)
- WI, Mukwonago (contact; description)
- WI, Waterford (contact; description)
Removed
- FL, Leanto (Art From the Heart Memory Cafe)
- MA, Andover (Memory Making Cafe)
- MA, Cambridge (Cambridge Rehab and Nursing Center)
- MA, Charlestown (Golden Age Senior Center)
- MA, East Boston (BCYF Community Center)
- MA, New Bedford (Portuguese Memory Cafe)
- MA, Plymouth (Faith Community Church)
- MA, Sturbridge (Fiskdale; Sturbridge Senior Center)
- MA, West Roxbury (Ethos/Agewell)
- MA, Woburn (Brighter View Memory Cafe at Woburn Public Library)
- NC, Hendersonville
- NH, Durham
Cafe Connect (Current Listing Count: 146!)
No activity this month.
If you are involved with either an in person or virtual Memory Cafe that has changed anything your community should know, please please let me know so I can update the listing. Thank you!
Featured Resource
A Mind to Care: Modular Dementia Activity System
Read more on Memory Cafe Directory
A Mind to Care offers what they call a “Game Therapy System.” It provides a rich and wide range of activities and games for adults with various forms of cognitive impairment. They benefit with a fun way to interact with their family and care partners.
Modularity: The brilliance of this system, allowing various benefits for everyone!
Start with a well-designed and well-built base unit. Add individual activity sections that are carefully planned and very appropriate for individuals living with Dementia, Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, Stroke, ALS and other developmental or cognitive impairments. Then finish with components that are all designed to fit and work perfectly with the base unit.
Their motto is “Improving Quality of Life through Entertainment and Activity.” Watch the video below and you’ll see what they mean. Then, read more about this wonderful system right here on Memory Cafe Directory.
https://youtu.be/Aa7ziCDc6yA
Recent News
Just one new article this month, but hey, we’re all getting ready for the holidays, right?
Ensuring a Safe Environment for Those With Memory Loss
Caring for someone with memory loss isn’t easy. There are so many things to think about every day that will allow them to maintain a certain quality of life.
At the top of your priority list, however, should be their safety.
Read Guest Contributor Amanda Winstead’s suggestions on how you can keep your loved one safe.
A growing number of Guest Contributors are expanding the valuable information available on Memory Cafe Directory. Do you have valuable expertise to share? Get in touch!
Dementia Map Sampler
Last month, I introduced you to “The Dementia Map Sampler.” This is my attempt to share new and exciting resources available through the Dementia Map Global Resource Directory. My Dementia Map co-founder, Lori La Bey of Alzheimer’s Speaks taught me “You Can’t Know What You Don’t Know!” My goal is to “help you know!”
Previously, I shared Alzheimer’s Speaks, The Footbar Walker, and TZMO USA – SENI. If you missed that introduction, visit the Cafe Connect Archive or click through to their individual Dementia Map profiles directly.
Continuing with “The Sampler” this month, I’d like to share three more wonderful resources, each one a supportive and valuable non-profit organization.
Dementia Together
Visit on Dementia Map
Dementia Together is a collaborative nonprofit organization who understands the dementia journey can be overwhelming, but no one has to walk it alone.
At Dementia Together, they cultivate joy by building stronger connections for those living with dementia, their care partners, and the community. Through education and enrichment, they make living well with dementia the expectation, not the exception.
Visit Dementia Together today on Dementia Map!
Project Lifesaver International
Visit on Dementia Map
Project Lifesaver is a community based, public safety, non-profit organization whose program is critical for law enforcement, fire and rescue, and caregivers. Their program is designed to protect, and when necessary, quickly locate individuals with cognitive disorders who are prone to the life threatening behavior of wandering.
With the dramatic increase of cognitive conditions since the inception of the organization, the program has grown from a localized program to a program recognized internationally as a proven and effective method of “bringing loved ones home.”
Visit Project Lifesaver International today on Dementia Map!
Dementia Society of America
Visit on Dementia Map
Dementia Society of America is your national volunteer-driven all-dementias nonprofit serving the community through education, resources, life-enrichment, and recognition programs for those living with dementia, and their care partners.
Their mission is to enhance the quality of life for those living with Dementia, their caregivers, and the community. They work to increase awareness through education opportunities and materials, provide quality of life programs that highlight therapies and life-enrichment, and to recognize outstanding initiatives in these areas.
Visit Dementia Society of America today on Dementia Map!
Another Sampler Next Month!
Share from the bottom of this page
Watch future editions of the Cafe Chatter newsletter for more introductions to resources you may not have met yet.
If you have a family member, friend, or colleague who would benefit from this information, please let them know. You can share this edition via social media or email, from the icons at the bottom of this page. Encourage them to subscribe for themselves!
If you are a business with a product or service that supports the dementia community, consider joining us on Dementia Map. There are many valuable benefits to being a part of it, and we have more enhancements in the works.
My Favorites
Memory Joggers
Get FREE Memory Joggers here on Memory Cafe Directory
There are hundreds of familiar phrases (and many more coming soon!) available through Memory Joggers.
15 volumes are available. (So far!)
Think of it as a guided reminiscence opportunity. Read the start of the phrase out loud and allow your loved one to complete it by providing “the last word.
Once the phrase is completed, have a conversation about the memory, an event that happened in the past, a song that comes to mind – whatever inspiration pops up!
Visit Memory Joggers here on Memory Cafe Directory to get yours.
Stall Catchers
This is a great opportunity for all of us to participate in advancing the state of Alzheimer’s research – just by playing a game.
Learn more about this fun activity that makes a big dent in research!
Please consider getting involved and join Team DementiaMap.com! MemoryCafeDirectory is active on Stall Catchers and a member of Team DementiaMap.com. Join us… we’re one of the Top 10 Teams Globally!
It doesn’t take much time. Just a few minutes a day can make a big difference, supporting the researchers.
Thank you!
Write For Us!
Be our next Guest Contributor!
Are you a dementia professional? Do you have experience helpful to the caregiving community?
The we want you to become a Memory Cafe Directory Contributor!
Memory Cafe Directory is looking for professionals, companies, brands, or anyone in the dementia community who are interested in expanding your brand by sharing your best information and advice with our community.
Become a Memory Cafe Directory Contributor to introduce yourself to people searching for Memory Cafe and dementia-related information.
Memory Cafe Spotlight
Calling All Innovators!
In “The Spotlight” we look at innovative Memory Cafes that are doing a great job of helping attendees thrive in a dementia-friendly environment. The intent is to share best practices so that others can learn from these great ideas.
Nearly every Memory Cafe has some element that would be an enhancement to another. By sharing these techniques, all Memory Cafes can be the best they can be!
Get in touch to share your story. We’d love to publish either a quick update or a very in-depth article about the work you’re doing. Let me know!
Last Little Bit
With new email subscription requests coming in all the time, our Newsletter Archive is the best way for new subscribers to get caught up! Visit for all past issues. In the future, I’ll be organizing these “website-based” editions for easy reading as well.
Great advertising opportunities are available on Memory Cafe Directory. Share your brand far and wide, or target specific cities and/or states. Position your brand in front of thousands of caregivers looking for valuable resources.
Want to sponsor a future Cafe Chatter? There are now over 1,500 members of the Cafe Chatter subscription community. Learn more about the many options available to extend your brand on our advertising page.
Be sure to follow Memory Cafe Directory on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. Most importantly, share with your friends. The more who know, the more who can benefit! You can share easily using the icons below.
All the best to everyone for a wonderful holiday season!
Thank you and very best regards!
Dave Wiederrich
Memory Cafe Directory
Pretty cool what you’re doing Dave. Doing my own web design for vineyard & another organization. My only comment would be to avoid pages too long that involve a lot scrolling. More drill down on areas of interest. Later