POSTPONED: Adult Caregivers Employee Resource Group: Demystifying Dementia & The Six Pillars of Brain Health
Date: Thu, 02/23/2023 | Time: 12-1pm | Location: Virtual – Zoom
Event Description
This session is intended to equip participants on behalf of themselves, their families and their communities with a basic understanding of Alzheimer’s disease and other common types of dementia, and to provide an overview of the “Six Pillars of Brain Health” as identified by the Global Council on Brain Health. We will offer resource information for families and individuals living with dementia in Michigan, and describe specific steps that everyone can take – regardless of age – to optimize their chances of maintaining their cognitive health.
This group is intended to virtually connect MSU faculty and staff who have caregiving responsibilities for adults in their lives and those navigating assisting a senior in their life with changing care needs. This group is open to anyone interested in connecting with other adult caregivers, or learning about issues such as how to care for yourself as a caregiver, how to start conversations about living situation changes, or how to navigate end of life choices conversations. Meetings are the fourth Thursday of the month from 12pm to 1pm during the academic year. For questions contact Ebony Lucas at lucase@msu.edu.
Learning Objectives
- Understanding Alzheimers and other types of dementia
- Learning about helpful resources and information for caring for someone with dementia
- Explore the six pillars of brain health
About the Speaker: Lisa Dedden Cooper, Advocacy Manager at AARP Michigan
Lisa Dedden Cooper serves as Manager of Advocacy for AARP Michigan, a nonpartisan 501(c)(4) organization with approximately 1.3 million members in Michigan. In that role she provides strategic leadership and direction for AARP’s state and federal legislative advocacy work in Michigan. She is passionate about dementia and brain health issues in particular. She is Co-Chair of the Michigan Dementia Coalition and serves on AARP’s Brain Health Cabinet.
Prior to joining AARP in 2011, Lisa Dedden Cooper worked for 12 years as Legal Counsel and senior policy analyst for the Michigan House of Representatives and Michigan Senate, and for two years as district director for Congressman Mark Schauer. In the mid-1990s, she served as a staff attorney for the UAW-Ford Legal Services Plan where she specialized in senior issues. Additionally, Lisa was elected and served three terms as an Ingham County Commissioner from 2000-2006 and was a member of the Clinton-Eaton-Ingham Community Mental Health Authority Board between 2002 and 2009.
Lisa has a bachelor’s degree in economics and psychology from the University of Michigan and earned her law degree from the University of Michigan Law School in 1991.
She served as family caregiver for her dad, Jack, who passed away in 2017 after having lived with frontotemporal dementia.
