February 2024 - The CLBDI Dementia Advocacy Letter, upcoming community events, and more...

Hello Lewy Warriors!

Another month down, another monthly blog post. We hope that everyone had a wonderful February. Ours was a little quiet but that's only because we're gearing up for an exciting spring. Over this past month, we've been working diligently with our Advisory Board to create a dementia advocacy letter that everyone can use to call their local MPs and MPPs to action. The current state of dementia care and resources available in Ontario and across our country aren't enough. With the forecasted dementia trends in Canada, which you can read about in the two Landmark Studies by The Alzheimer Society of Canada shared on our LBD Resources page, it seems that it is only going to become more pressing, more challenging, and more stressful for families, patients, and carers. We wanted to create something that you can use to advocate for those who need it. The letter template should be available on our website for free in the next few weeks.

We also are preparing for our next speaking event! We'll be speaking at the Canadian Clay & Glass Gallery in Uptown Waterloo on March 14th at 2 PM. We'll be speaking about Lewy Body Dementia, sharing the CLBDI story, and answering questions. This event is for people aged 55+ and is free! You can get your tickets via this link:

www.eventbrite.ca/e/lewy-body-dementia-information-session-gather-at-the-gallery-ages-55-tickets-820142136207?aff=oddtdtcreator

We are also beginning to plan out the first CLBDI Community Walk of 2024. Keep an eye out, as the walk should be announced later this month. As with our previous walks, they are free to join and everyone is welcome. These events are a chance for Lewy Warriors and loved ones to meet, get some exercise, and connect. We're also planning to spread to other communities and regions this year and hope to meet some new people and grow our community across Ontario. 

Later in the spring, we are planning a visit to the University of Western Ontario and the research labs where the LBD research we help fund happens. We're looking forward to it and will be reporting back to the community. We might even use that chance to make some video content to share with everyone! Speaking of videos, we will also be putting out the third episode of the "CLBDI Talks Interview Series" on our YouTube channel in the coming weeks. Due to some scheduling issues, we were unable to record and release it as planned in February, but we're working on  it. We've also got some great interview guests planned for the rest of 2024 and plan to branch out and explore more types of video content for everyone to enjoy. Check out the first two episodes on the CLBDI YouTube channel (www.youtube.com/@canadianlbdinfo) and be sure to like and subscribe to be notified whenever we release something new.

In February, we added more to our LBD Resources page including Race Against Dementia, ​The Schlegel-UW Research Institute For Aging, Dementia Dialogue (Podcast), and more. Be sure to check back regularly as we are constantly adding to our collection of resources and links.

That's all from us for now! We'll see you in March.

Best,
Joe