Dementia Friends Champions help us spread the word about supporting people living with dementia. This spotlight features the great people championing our shared mission to make communities more dementia friendly. Today, we spotlight Chasity Charette, Community Services Health Educator at the Area Agency of Aging & Disabilities of Southwest Washington! She is a Dementia Friends Master Trainer for Clark County.
Chasity Charette, she/her, Vancouver, WA
Why did you decide to become a Dementia Friend Champion?
My grandmother has Alzheimer’s and I felt that if my grandmother lived in a dementia-friendly community, then the possibility of her living in her home longer could have been more than just a dream. I want to make it more than just a dream for all the grandmothers and grandfathers all over the county and have that success scatter throughout Washington state, our nation, and hopefully the world one day.
What do you do outside of Dementia Friends?
Any time outside of Dementia Friends and work, is family time. I am married with three kiddos and we share our home with my parents. So, it is important to me that we do things together. We play board games or watch movies, whenever there is any down time. Our home is always full of laughs, and the occasional disagreement; with the seven of us and three dogs living our best lives together.
What is a project, event, or initiative that excites you?
Currently, I am working on securing a partnership with our public transportation services, C-Tran. This partnership will not only secure a transportation connection, but it will also provide awareness and education to bus drivers on what dementia is, what signs to look out for, how to communicate with someone living with dementia, and who to contact and how to handle an emergency situation for that person living with dementia. The Dementia Friends information session will be included in C-Tran’s onboarding process for their new hires. The onboarding will be done by their Trainers, who I will be training to become Dementia Friends Champions. When this project gets up and rolling, there will be more information to come. This is a partnership that is long overdue, but will be well worth the wait!
We are thrilled C-TRAN , Clark County’s public mass transit provider, joins Dementia Friends as Champions! Their commitment to share this meaningful information with their employees advances our vision of a Dementia Friendly Clark County - Mike Reardon, Director of Area Agency on Aging and Disabilities of Southwest Washington
What would you like your team to know about you?
Dementia Friends Clark County
I am a wife, mother, daughter, sister, granddaughter, niece, cousin and friend to some amazing people! I have been working for the Area Agency on Aging and Disabilities of Southwest Washington here in Vancouver, WA since 2017. Currently I am the Community Services Health Educator. This job allows me the opportunity to connect with my community, caregivers and those living with dementia. I have my Bachelors in Human Services with a focus on Gerontology. My goals for Dementia Friends – Clark County is to make important community connections and to expand Dementia Friends into the other lower Southwest Washington counties that do not currently have a Dementia Friends program. The Dementia Friends – Clark County Action Team is a wonderful group of people that all have the same one goal in mind: MAKE DEMENTIA-FRIENDLY COMMUNITIES! We are starting 2023 strong and checking off tasks one at a time to reach that goal. Dementia Friends – Clark County Action Team is inspiring and innovative. GO TEAM!!
If you are interested in learning more about becoming a Dementia Friends Champion, please email dementiafriendswa@gmail.com
-
Related Pages
What is a Dementia-Friendly Community?
