Professor aims for 87 counties with dementia ‘roadshow’

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A coffee shop. A music stage. An art gallery. Spaces for woodworking and quilting groups. And a “Zoom Room” for video calls. The venue’s name may be Madison Mercantile, but this is clearly no ordinary store.

Instead, the sprawling building, a former hardware store, has become a community hub in the Lac qui Parle County seat of Madison, which boasts a population of about 1,500 as well as a memorable claim to fame, “Lutefisk Capital USA.”

From the perspective of a University of Minnesota professor, Joe Gaugler, Madison Mercantile also made an ideal classroom for a praiseworthy project known as the “Dementia Educational Experience Roadshow.” It was one of his stops in 2024 as he seeks to bring this educational presentation to all 87 of the state’s counties.

It’s an ambitious effort that merits Minnesotans’ support, especially with the number of Americans with Alzheimer’s and other dementias “continuing to grow in coming years because the risk of dementia increases with advancing age,” according to a 2024 Alzheimer’s Association report.

Gaugler has an impressive set of academic titles indicating his deep expertise in the practical and policy challenges that come with getting older. He’s the distinguished McKnight University Professor and Robert L. Kane Endowed Chair in Long-Term Care and Aging at the U’s School of Public Health.

While he’s based at the U’s flagship Twin Cities campus, Gaugler is a strong believer in outreach. The mileage he’s racking up on drives across the state is proof of his commitment to help Minnesotans understand and manage dementia and Alzheimer’s disease.

These conditions can cause heartbreaking cognitive declines in older loved ones and turn family members into caregivers, often with little training or pay.

Families grappling with this difficult situation need credible information and community connections. The intent of Gaugler’s “roadshow” is to bring these resources to Minnesotans where they live, versus expecting people to drive to the Twin Cities or log onto webinars that might lack personal interactions with those fighting the same caregiving battles.

When you get people together in a room, “inevitably people share their stories ... about the challenges of getting a primary care provider to recognize memory loss. Or trying to navigate long-term care,” Gaugler said in a recent interview. ”People actually start to help each other at the talks. It’s not just me with unidirectional flow of information.

“Every presentation ends up being different. Because it depends on the questions and stories that are shared. And I think people get a lot out of it.”

There’s no charge to attend the presentation. And it’s worth noting that the U’s metro campus, where Gaugler works, is a ”land-grant” university, a system of academic institutions founded to broaden education access across the nation. The professor’s 87-county tour laudably hews to this noble tradition while meeting a modern need.

In Minnesota and elsewhere, many families are already facing a dementia or Alzheimer’s diagnosis, and many more will follow in years to come. It has to do with demographics, with people living longer and hitting the 65-and-up age group that is at increased risk.

“An estimated 6.7 million older adults have Alzheimer’s disease in the United States. That number is expected to double by 2060,” reports the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). The agency notes that “Alzheimer’s is the most common type of dementia. It accounts for 60% to 80% of cases.”

In Minnesota, about 102,000 adults age 65 and over had Alzheimer’s dementia in 2020, the last year for which the Alzheimer’s Association reported state-specific data.

About 11.5 million Americans provide care to someone with Alzheimer’s or another dementia, according to the association. By its estimate, 164,000 Minnesotans are among them.

Clearly, this is a sizable community in Minnesota. And given the challenges of caring for a loved one with memory problems, it makes sense to bring information to where they live.

Gaugler’s presentation runs about 90 minutes. It provides foundational basics, covering everything from normal memory loss to setting expectations for treatments. As the Alzheimer’s Association notes, “There’s no cure for Alzheimer’s, but there are treatments that may change disease progression, and drug and non-drug options that may help treat symptoms.”

Gaugler also provides information about new caregiving strategies such as the “GUIDE” effort promoted last summer by federal health officials. GUIDE stands for “Guiding an Improved Dementia Experience.”

The aim of this voluntary initiative: to ensure that patients with dementia more consistently receive high-quality, coordinated care. To drive this, the approach defines “a standardized approach” to care and provides incentives to organizations serving dementia patients to coordinate care as well as provide support for families.

While several Minnesota organizations are participating, Gaugler would like to encourage more. Providing information about its potential in his talks should help.

Talking about the new model also provides hope to families. One theme that Gaugler consistently hears around the state: “how to better honor the personhood of someone living with dementia.”

The presentation often spurs a thoughtful discussion and good ideas from participants. Gaugler notes he always learns from those attending.

Gaugler so far has visited 32 counties, with the visit to Madison Mercantile late last summer. He doesn’t have a date in mind for checking off all 87, and notes it’ll take time given the distances involved.

The roadshow’s next listed stop is in Freeborn County on Jan. 30 at the Albert Lea Fire Department. Also ahead in 2025: presentations in Scott, Meeker, McLeod, Renville, Pennington, Kittson and Todd Counties.

This roadshow takes requests. For those interested in hosting Gaugler’s presentation, information is available at tinyurl.com/DementiaTour.

Madison Mercantile’s proprietor Kris Shelstad gives Gaugler’s tour an enthusiastic recommendation and noted it drew a good crowd.

“To come out in person, it amplifies the message,” she said. “It’s different when a person cares enough about the subject to make the journey. I know it sparked a lot of conversations.”