ParkTalk Podcast: Aiding Naperville Seniors

Thursday, June 5, 2025

Episode Description:

With Naperville’s senior residents making up a significant amount of the population, it is important to support organizations who cater to the demographic’s specific needs. Lisa Kirchner from Dementia Friendly Naperville, an organization formed to specifically support dementia patients, joins to discuss the benefits of the organization and their work in supporting seniors in the community.

Quotes from the Episode:

What does it mean to be dementia-friendly?

Dementia Friendly Naperville established three pillars that we work from. The first one is to seek to raise awareness and reduce stigma of dementia and we do that through educational programs. Our other two pillars we work on are to provide community resources related to dementia, and the third pillar is to increase support for those living with dementia and their care partners. – Lisa Kirchner

What kind of benefits do you witness through Memory Café?

The benefits abound with Memory Café. We look out and see smiling, happy faces and they’re communicating with each other, just having a good time. We have participants tell us things like “This is just what we needed today,” and “My loved one looks forward to this day all month,” to “I wish you had this café every day.” It really benefits both the person with dementia and their care partner. – Lisa Kirchner

How can residents support Dementia Friendly Naperville?

We have a lot of information on the City of Naperville website, naperville.il.us, or we have a link that would take you directly to our website page, dementiafriendlynaperville.org. It has a lot of information plus links on how to register for the different programs and we update it regularly. – Lisa Kirchner