Dementia Friendly Pennsylvania Webinar Focuses on Recentering Sex and Sexuality for People Living with Dementia

Dementia Friendly Pennsylvania kicked off a new webinar series with "Recentering Sex & Sexuality for People Living with Dementia" on February 8. Led by Emily Franke, LSW, MSW, a program associate for the Jewish Healthcare Foundation (JHF), the webinar had 95 attendees from 37 Pennsylvania counties and beyond, including Iowa, Ohio, Massachusetts, Minnesota, North Carolina, Nevada, Texas, and Israel.

Launched in September 2022, Dementia Friendly Pennsylvania is a collaborative effort with Dementia Friends Pennsylvania, a program of JHF and existing Dementia Friendly Pennsylvania communities and is supported by the Pennsylvania Department of Aging. This initiative works to ensure communities across the state are equipped to support people living with dementia and their care partners.

The new Dementia Friendly Webinar Series will be held bimonthly, focusing on topics related to dementia that are often not discussed but are necessary to talk about. The series was formed in response to knowledge gaps identified by members of the Dementia Friendly communities in Pennsylvania during conversations about dementia knowledge that is needed across the Commonwealth.

During the February session, participants learned to apply inte rsectionality to understand the impacts of ageism and ableism on sexual expression; gained an understanding of the benefits of assessing for and acknowledging sexual health needs; learned to use evidence-based assessment tools for discussing difficult topics, such as sexual health and how to implement tools into person-centered care plans; discussed the complexities of consent for persons living with dementia; and explored the implications of the medical model focus of change and loss versus adaptation and pleasure.

The next Dementia Friendly Webinar, "Dementia and Firearm Safety," will be held on April 4 at noon. The webinar will include a presentation by Joseph Simonetti, MD, MPH, of Rocky Mountain Regional VA Medical Center and Rocky Mountain MIRECC for Suicide Prevention Initiative at the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus, focused on health-related changes that can affect firearm handling and safety among people living with dementia. The event will include a panel discussion with Marissa Marshall, Esq., CELA, partner at Kreisher Marshall & Associates LLC, Lieutenant Timothy E. Janosco, officer of Community Engagement for the Pennsylvania State Police, and Rollin Wright, MD, MPH, MS, associate professor of Medicine at Penn State Health – Hershey Medical Center. Register now.