Garden Park Adult Day Center will “Paint it Purple” on Friday.
The Mississippi Department of Mental Health, the Mississippi chapter of the Alzheimer’s Association and the University of Mississippi Medical Center’s MIND (Memory Impairment and Neurodegenerative Dementia) Research Center are encouraging Mississippians to help paint the state purple on Friday in honor of World Alzheimer’s Day — a global event. The “Paint it Purple” day is an effort to create awareness about Alzheimer’s disease and those it effects.
Shirley Garrett, activities director of Garden Park, is asking for citizens and businesses to participate by wearing purple or displaying purple ribbons or bows on homes and offices to show support for those with Alzheimer’s disease and the ones who care for them.
“This is something that the Mississippi Department of Mental Health is doing across the state,” said Garrett. “This event is all about raising awareness.”
Garden Park will decorate its bus in purple on Friday, with purple promise flowers promoting the upcoming Mississippi Delta Walk to End Alzheimer’s. The Garden Park participants, all dressed in purple, will ride around town in the bus.
The group’s first stop will be Riverview Nursing & Rehabilitation to pick up hamburgers for a park picnic. Riverview is selling hamburgers on Friday, as a team fundraiser before the upcoming walk.
Then, the group will travel to Crystal Health & Rehab at 1 p.m. for a purple balloon release.
The Friday outing is just one of the many events that Garden Park holds for its participants sufferings from Alzheimer’s and dementia.
There are approximately 51,000 Mississippians living with Alzheimer’s disease. In 2010, there were 927 Alzheimer’s disease-related deaths in Mississippi. Death’s from Alzheimer’s increased 109 percent between 2000 and 2010, while deaths from other major diseases decreased. By 2025, it is estimated more than 65,000 Mississippians will have the disease.
“This is the sixth leading cause of death,” said Garrett.
The Alzheimer’s Association of Mississippi is sponsoring the sixth annual Walk to End Alzheimer’s in Greenwood on Sept. 27. Early registration and team registration are available online at www.alz.org/ms.
For more information about “Paint it Purple!” or the 2014 Walk to End Alzheimer’s, call 451-9098 or 453-8410.
• Contact Ruthie Robison at 581-7233 or rrobison@gwcommonwealth.com.
