[00:00:00] Speaker A: The Journey Hometown Journal Understand this is the process of Alzheimer's. This is the process of dementia and how it's going to affect you at each stage.
Dementia is known as basically the death of a thousand deaths, the disease of a thousand deaths.
[00:00:17] Speaker B: Welcome to the Hometown Journal. I'm Mark Edwards. An estimated 6.9 million Americans age 65 and older are living with Alzheimer's. That according to statistics from 2024.
Today on the Hometown Journal, we're going to share with you some information on an upcoming conference in Lynchburg that deals with caring for those suffering from the disease. The Dementia Hope conference will be Saturday, March 15, at Thomas Road Baptist Church in Lynchburg.
[00:00:46] Speaker C: Well, today we are going to be discussing the upcoming Dementia Hope conference. This will be at Thomas Road Baptist Church, March 15. And we have a couple of representatives from Thomas Road here in Lynchburg. Kent Wise is the director of Senior Life, then Adam Lancaster is the chief creative officer. Thank you both for being with us.
[00:01:06] Speaker D: Thank you.
[00:01:07] Speaker A: Thank you.
[00:01:08] Speaker C: So how did the idea of the Dementia Hope Conference come about and Thomas Rhodes involvement?
[00:01:15] Speaker E: Three years ago I was at a conference in Dallas at Prestonwood, which is Jack Graham's church there. They're in their 10th year of doing a caregiver conference. And one of the presenters or one of my counterparts there presented the conference to the group and started thinking that would be possibly a good thing to do here, working with seniors, starting to see folks with dementia onset, things of that nature. We came back, looked around, spoke with folks, and after two years of prayer, it actually started coming together. And we've got several folks from the community that are professionals with dementia and Alzheimer's that are part of the planning team.
[00:01:58] Speaker C: Specifically, who is the conference for?
[00:02:01] Speaker E: It's for the caregiver mainly. One of the things that I've always.
[00:02:05] Speaker A: Noticed, caregivers tend to suffer more so because they don't know how to take care of themselves.
And so one of the things that we're doing is trying to give resources to them as well as make it practical for them to understand, well, this is the process of Alzheimer's. This is the process of dementia and how it's going to affect you each stage dementia is known as basically the death of a thousand deaths, the disease of a thousand deaths.
[00:02:35] Speaker C: Thomas Road is the site for the conference, the host for the conference as well.
[00:02:41] Speaker A: We're one of the hosts.
[00:02:42] Speaker D: Yes.
[00:02:42] Speaker C: So it's a partnership between Thomas Road and then some of the other organization speakers that will be there. Who are some of the speakers?
[00:02:49] Speaker A: Well, we have Mark Bold, who is from relevant law. He's going to be talking about the law and finance for affecting the elderly. Today we have the nutritioning company, which is led by Kelly Kopenol.
She's going to talk about how to.
[00:03:05] Speaker E: Nourish your body and mind and keep.
[00:03:07] Speaker A: Yourself focused on being able to be the caregiver. Guiding Soldola, which is Rosa Horsley. She's going to talk about navigating self care and the anticipatory grief stage.
[00:03:22] Speaker E: You're going to be going through that.
[00:03:23] Speaker A: And having to suffer from the grief all the way through the Alzheimer's Association. Brooke Gill, she's going to be talking about the updates on the latest Alzheimer's research.
Living Active Dementia with Jenny Simmons. She's going to talk about staying active at home and how to do it safely. We do also have Sheriff Don Sloan and they're going to talk about Project Lifesaver and scams that affect the elderly. And then we have a representative from.
[00:03:53] Speaker E: The AARP who's going to be there.
[00:03:55] Speaker A: To give out resources as well. And those are our main speakers. We have folks coming also wills on wills she's going to be coming to for folks who can't go to a lawyer or whatever or to a law office. She actually goes to the site to do the wills.
[00:04:13] Speaker E: We have home health agencies that are coming and are going to be a part of the sponsorships and they'll be going through what they do and what they can do to help at home. You know, one of the things is oftentimes we try to take care of our families by ourselves. And what happens is that we just get tired and sometimes we just need a break. We just need somebody to come in for a moment. And our home health agencies are able to do that.
[00:04:39] Speaker C: Ken, as a pastor, when you are ministering to a family that's experiencing a loved one that has dementia, what are some of the. Because it is such a heartbreaking disease, what are some of the challenges that pastors have in ministering to the individual and the family?
[00:05:00] Speaker E: Well, the individuals, it's interesting because oftentimes they don't remember even who I am.
Just to give you an example, we were at Pearls of Life up on the Hill and we have a group that goes in there. We'll go in there every Wednesday. Well, the one thing that they know is music and they connect with the old hymns. They connect with that. And so that's our whole program in the memory care unit there with families. The biggest thing that I have found is just not understanding the process.
When a mom or dad forgets who their son or daughter is. I mean, that creates a void for identity and things of that nature. So trying to help the families walk through that identity crisis, if you will, is the hardest part and probably the most needed part.
[00:05:54] Speaker C: That gives you a little bit of insight to some of what you'll hear at this conference. You mentioned some of the other partners that are involved in that. So you've got the speakers, you've got the partners. Tell me a little bit about the booth, table space that will be set up and what's still available.
[00:06:11] Speaker E: We've already enrolled our primary sponsors, and in order to do the things that we've got to do to be ready for the conference, we've now come down to just a booth, and we do have spots available for booths and what the person will get for that. The company, as they come in, they'll have the opportunity to give out any resources that they have, tell the. The conference folks who are coming what they can do for them. They also can take time to just to let people know, this is who we are, this is what I can do. That's something that I think is really needed because we're very specific in that we want our vendors to be people who have something to do with elderly care.
Not just someone. Not just a vendor coming in to sell something, but someone who can come in and say, this is the service that I offer.
This is how I can help the individual caregiver. Again, focusing on the caregiver and see what can happen there.
[00:07:14] Speaker D: Ken's being real specific with every portion and every piece of our program for that day pertains to helping those who are dealing with this. And that's one of the great things about the partnership, because while we're at Thomas Road, Kent leads our ministry to senior life, and he's doing that week in, week out.
We're hosting and putting on a conference. But we've had such great support from our partners who were coming to the table and saying, hey, this is an issue that affects so many families, and we want to come alongside the church to offer them resources. Because oftentimes families, they get this diagnosis and they are counseled on the medical side, but what they don't understand is the relational side, what to expect from these, from their family members that are in time going to start deteriorating. But, like, what resources do I need? I'm not sure what I even need to know. I don't even know what I need. And so our partners are coming to the table to really help those that come and maybe dealing with this or maybe anticipating it or want to be better prepared to be able to walk that path.
[00:08:22] Speaker B: Today on the Hometown Journal, we are discussing the Dementia Hope Conference that is scheduled for Saturday, March 15, at Thomas Road Baptist Church in Lynchburg. For more information about the conference, visit trbc.org dhc we'll be back with more in a minute.
[00:08:41] Speaker F: Whether you're looking to catch up.
[00:08:42] Speaker D: We'd come in to do cake and then we played pin the nose on.
[00:08:45] Speaker F: Olaf and I had to organize all the children and need some advice. It's something, especially as a mom, that I've learned not only that I need to believe, but I also need to model or looking for hope. This whole restoration process has had me thinking about God being the one that restores us. You'll find all of that and more on the Journey podcasts. Check out Diary of the Mom Squad, the Morning Journey, Rewind, the Hometown Journal and the Hope Cast, all available to download now on the podcast
[email protected] or wherever you get your podcasts.
[00:09:17] Speaker G: Now back to more of the Journey Hometown Journal.
[00:09:19] Speaker B: Mark Edwards, back with you. Today we are discussing the upcoming Dementia Hope Conference that'll be Saturday, March 15, at Thomas Road Baptist Church in Lynchburg. And joining us today from Thomas Road is Kent Wise, director of Senior Life, and Adam Lancaster, chief creative officer.
[00:09:39] Speaker C: Adam, you look at this conference and the importance of that for a church to be able to partner with all of these different agencies, organizations to bring this to Lynchburg. How important is it for a church to really establish in a community those kind of partnerships? Churches can do great things, but you really need the help of some of these other organizations.
[00:10:05] Speaker D: Well, it's critically important because the first stop when people encounter life events that kind of change their direction should be the church.
And so when you're able to partner with these different companies and resources, it helps us because it's not just about the medical side or what they'll be dealing with at home or eventual hospital. It's not just that we're there to help an individual walk through life week in, week out. And we believe as a church, the relationship with Jesus is what makes that possible.
But to have organizations that we can bring to the table and say, hey, with where you're at in this stage, specifically in dealing with dementia, where you're at with this stage with your family member, we would love to connect you with this partner organization that we have a relationship with. And so it's another way we're able to guide people as they follow Jesus for not only spiritual needs but but physical needs as well.
[00:11:12] Speaker C: What are some of the other outreach partnerships that Thomas Road is involved with to bring the community together?
[00:11:22] Speaker D: There's a lot of them via our different ministries and different people that are connected. Over the holidays at the end of the year, we were able to partner with some of our own organizations like the Liberty Godparent Home, the Liberty Godparent foundation, as well as our Foster and Adopt ministry that we have out of the church, along with some pregnancy centers around town to help raise money. Because we were Pastor Jonathan was burdened with the idea that life matters. And if life matters, then we need to resource people to do that. And so helping not just we're not just talking about moms or teenage girls that may have gotten pregnant. We're talking about families, husbands and wives who want to have kids and they haven't been able to do that. That's what our foster adoption ministry is there for, to help them know the next right step, to connect them to the right partner in the process, just the same way we do with people who are dealing with dementia. And so having those connections are important. And we have I'm not going to say for anything you're going to encounter, but it's not far from that. We have relationships built into our ministry directors and our pastors who can help anyone find the right next step.
[00:12:38] Speaker C: Very good. Before we wrap up, I want to give you an opportunity to let somebody who would just love to attend the conference or maybe there is an organization that is going to hear this and would like to be involved. How do they find out more about it?
[00:12:52] Speaker E: They can go to our website. It's TRBC that has all the information about the conference on it. And you can go there to register to be a participant in the conference as well as register to be a sponsor as a vendor and have a.
[00:13:13] Speaker B: Booth Today on the Hometown Journal. We have been talking with Kent Wise and Adam Lancaster of Thomas Road Baptist Church. Kent is the Director of Senior Life and Adam is the Chief Creative Officer. They've been discussing the Dementia Hope Conference that's coming up Saturday, March 15, and as they mentioned, you can find out more about the conference when you visit trbc.org dhc I'm Mark Edwards. Thank you for joining us for the Hometown Journal.
[00:13:46] Speaker G: You've been listening to the Journey Hometown Journal. If you're a part of an organization or know of one in the communities we serve and would like to be considered as a guest, please make your
[email protected], email officemyjourneyfm.com or call 800-424-9594. The Hometown Journal is a presentation of the journey.
