Community Involvement Series: Because there are so many various opportunities that may or may not be relevant for your home care agency to participate in, we’re breaking down some we’re aware of that may benefit most depending on the specified services they provide. Today, we’re focusing on a huge opportunity for home care agencies specializing in care for Alzheimer’s and Dementia clients.
Incredible opportunity
In September 2017, I was invited by W. Scott Holmes – the owner of a Visiting Angels franchise in Idaho Falls, ID – to have the company I worked for at the time (Home Care Pulse) become a sponsor and to participate in the Walk to End Alzheimer’s event that year. While it was a great opportunity for us to show our support from our own backyard to a national organization we were working closely with, I saw even more value from others participating. Along with Visiting Angels, there were several other home care agencies and representatives from several area home health and hospice agencies, senior living facilities, and the hospitals. All showing a strength of supporting those suffering from Alzheimer’s and Dementia.
For the weeks leading up to the walk, these businesses sought donations from individuals and businesses in the area and gave donations themselves to secure booth space and more. Many assisted in transporting Alzheimer’s patients and clients, along with family members, out to this sobering celebration. A celebration because of the research, resources, and relief that’s become available to so many through the Alzheimer’s Association’s efforts. Sobering because of the stories of disrupted lives due to this disease and how much more still needs to be accomplished to provide even more relief. Aslo sobering when seeing all the flower windmills set in the ground representing those suffering from Alzheimer’s at various stages: early onset to remembering those who’ve passed away with the disease.
The greatest effect from this event – which I attended the following year as well – was the incredible sense of community. Everyone came together with immense gratitude for each other. Beyond the sobering stories, there were celebrations of lives lived by those with Alzheimer’s and Dementia that have seen improvements. Life-extending treatments and therapies/medications that have shown promising results in helping those with the diseases prolong their lives and that add quality back by helping slow the effects were also celebrated.
Nothing showed me commitment to a cause that negatively affects so many than seeing those businesses from our area come out and commit time, people, and money striving to make a positive difference.
Making Opportunities
Presently, there are several opportunities throughout the year that you and your home care team can consider and decide which makes the most sense for you to participate in. Go to https://www.alz.org/get_involved to see several opportunities to get involved in. The options that give you the most opportunities for engagement in the community are under the Events section: https://www.alz.org/get-involved-now/fundraising_events.
Walk to End Alzheimers
This is the event I have participated in. As you search by your location, you will find out if/when one of these events is taking place in your area. There, you can explore various sponsorship and participation options. If there is not a Walk to End Alzheimer's showing up in your area, you can do as Scott did and work with the Alzheimer's Association to put the event together. They provide incredible support to you and representatives from your region are there to support you with details, materials, and representation at the event.
Learn more by going to the Walk to End Alzheimer's page.
RivALZ to End Alz
This appears to be a newer option in the family of Alzheimer's Association fundraisers as it's not very wide-spread yet. It does seem quite entertaining, though. If you and your staff love Flag Football and want to compete against other teams, this could be a great option for you. Find a competition near you by going to the RivALZ to End Alz page.
Ride to End Alz
Some of these events are location-specific with a specific date or month to participate, but there are also options that you could explore to set a ride on your own schedule. Each of the rides has varying levels of difficulty, so you can decide just how much you can or want to commit to. More details about rides can be found on their Ride to End Alz page.
The Longest Day
You won't struggle coming up with a fundraiser opporunity to involve the community after reading the myriad activities available here. The Longest Day covers individual events you can set up and have sponsors back you and several community activities to bring people together. The main categories (that also have several sub-categories) are:
- Exercise
- Sports
- Games
- Parties & Events
- Hobbies
- Arts
- Fundraiser Only
Taking opportunities
This year, I am doing the 50-Mile Challenge that takes place through the month of June. I’m either going to get whipped into shape or incredibly sore (or both) while I work on running a total of 50 miles broken up a few miles at a time over the 30 days in June.
Personally, I’m excited about this. I used to run all the time in junior high and high school and more recently with on of my stepdaughters to help her condition for her dance team. But, I haven’t run very much over the last few years. I did even more bike riding since high school, so perhaps I’ll do a Ride to End Alz challenge next.
Decide which is the best for you and year team, then sign up. The Alzheimer’s Association makes it quite simple as they provide all the online and social media support. This includes online tracking of donations and miles, Facebook groups for promoting and support, and Facebook Fundraising tools to help spread the work among all your Friends on Facebook. For example, here’s my fundraiser on FB that was just set up fo the 50-Mile Challenge: Kevin’s Fundraiser for the 3rd Annual 50-Mile Challenge. If you feel so inclined, I’d love your support. When you do, be sure to let Facebook publicly signal your support to others connected to you.
Most of all, I hope that if you are a home care agency that works with clients and families suffering with Alzheimer’s that you find or create opportunities of your own to leverage the involvement with the Alzheimer’s Association to engage with your community in bolstering awareness and support, while simultaniously declaring your value to those you care for.
Maximizing Opportunities
When you do have something planned, heres what you need to do to promote it and get the most participation:
Press Release
Issue a press release to get the news involved. This is something incredibly newsworthy and getting TV, radio, newspaper, and online news outlets to inform their audience of your event and efforts is free advertising.
Social Media
Use the Facebook event the Alzheimer's Association has for an event you join to invite your and your team's Facebook friends in the area. Consider boosting the event to a targeted audience in your area based on their proximity to you and their interests. As individuals show interest in or that they are going to events, FB communicates that to their friends - which widens your reach. You can also spread info about the event on Instagram, LinkedIn, TikTok, etc. if you and your team have right-fit contacts on those platforms, too.
Document
As you prepare for the event, share pictures/video of your team getting ready. Example: You can watch a simple video I did for my fundraiser page to help communicate my WHY in participating - Kevin's WHY - 50-Mile Challenge. When you put on the event, take pictures and video to share on social media while it's happening. Also, do a video and a blog post with the video and images to share information about the turnout and outcome of the fundraiser. (NOTE: Everything you can document from prior years will help build even greater awareness and legitimacy as you get read to coordinate events in future years.)
Media Presence
Beyond the press release, invite members of the press to attend. Be specific with them about the event schedule and which times might be best for them to show up. If they can send someone for most of the day - unless some breaking news happens, great. Otherwise, be sure they show up when you know most of the attendees will be together for an activity or to hear someone speak. This best shows your strength in numbers. Your event may or may not show up during the news broadcast or in ideal real estate in print, but with unlimited time and space online, you should at the very least get online coverage with a story or news clip you can reference in your social media, website, and future sharing/promoting of events.
Next Steps... Take Action!
With these opportunties and many others to consider, be certain to analyze which options are best based on services you provide and your right-fit client audience, prioritize your efforts regarding the event, commit time and resources to it, implement your plans for the event and promotional support for it, and replicate (if successful) so each time you do the event, your successes will continue improving.
