Licking County residents will be walking, running or on their scooters to “Scare Away Alzheimer’s” on Oct. 25 in the first annual Licking County Alzheimer’s Walk at Newark’s Rotary Park.
Alzheimer’s Disease is a brain disorder that causes a gradual decline in memory and cognitive abilities, and is the most common cause of dementia, according to the Alzheimer’s Association.
Starting at 9 a.m. on Friday, volunteers will be positioned under a pavilion in Rotary Park, adorned with balloons and banners, helping to register walkers and runners for either a 1-mile stroll or a 5k.
The cost to participate is $10 for individuals and $100 for teams. Attendees can also buy t-shirts for $15 or donate an amount of their choosing. All proceeds go directly to the Alzheimer’s Association. Interested individuals can register in-person on the day of the event.
The walk, organized by Middleton Senior Living in Granville, is the first of its kind in Licking County, and Middleton’s Executive Director Debbie Hartshorn expects to see plenty of participants — including some on scooters.
Through the Alzheimer’s Association, Columbus holds an annual Walk for Alzheimer’s. This year, the event took place on Oct. 13. Middletown is involved in the Columbus walk, but wanted to expand to the Licking County area. This allows for residents to support in their area, without needing to make the drive to Columbus.
“I felt it was important for us to have a walk in this area,” Hartshorn said. “We are big enough and we do have a lot of really great community resources at our fingertips. It made sense for us to try to continue with our own walk.”
Alzheimer’s Association has various walk locations across the United States. The Licking County walk is not yet listed as an official location. Hartshorn and Middleton’s Community Relations Director Max Kirby hope to see additional recognition from the Alzheimer’s Association within the next year.
Despite planning the event in only a month, they currently have 14 teams participating. Middleton is encouraging more companies to participate in the coming years.
“It’s the first annual, we just pretty much wanted to make sure we put our first foot down and then someone’s going to take it running,” Kirby said. “The Licking County Aging Partners is showing signs that they want to take over the event at some point. Maybe starting next year it will become bigger and better.”
Middleton holds a yearly event, The Longest Day, to raise funds for Alzheimer’s prevention.
“We pretty much just kind of took on this project too, for this year at least. But we’ll be supporting every single year after that,” Kirby said.
A different senior living community, Otterbein Senior Life, signed up a group of about 10 individuals for the walk.
“They’re very excited. It is actually really heartwarming because in healthcare, sometimes they tell you you’re competing against each other, but we’re really not. We’re working for the same goal,” Hartshorn said.
Hartshorn emphasizes that the event will be a culmination of community members that want to help the seniors in their community.
“Alzheimer’s affects so many of us in each of our different facets of what we do. It’s a charitable disease, but at the same time, we’re fighting for a cure. Any way that we can slow the disease process or find a way to prevent it, that’s our goal. We want to keep our seniors healthy and we can try to give back to make those things happen is important for us,” Hartshorn said.
Ella Diehl writes for TheReportingProject.org, the nonprofit news organization of Denison University’s Journalism program, which is supported by generous donations from readers. Sign up for The Reporting Project newsletter here.