Memory Bridge began in 2003 with a question: What do people with dementia never forget? This question led to our first project, a collaboration with the Smithsonian’s Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage and the Library of Congress to encourage and support the participation of veterans with dementia in the WWII Veterans Oral History Project.
In 2005, we piloted the Chicago Memory Bridge Initiative, a 10-week school program that bridged economically at-risk teens with elders with dementia in ongoing one-to-one relationships. The success of the program, which was observed by city and state officials, led to the program being adopted as one of the principal educational initiatives of the Illinois Department of Human Services.
In 2006, the Chicago Memory Bridge Initiative was awarded the innovative Program of the year by the Illinois Council on Long-Term Care.
In 2010, Memory Bridge Initiative received a grant from the US Department of Education to continue this program. To date, Memory Bridge has connected over 4,000 teenagers to elders with dementia in one-to-one relationships.
In 2011, the Memory Bridge school initiative received Indiana University’s “Advancement of Peace and Education: Creative Paths to Peace” Award
Memory Bridge’s work bridging students and elders with dementia brought us into sustained contact with thousands of people living with dementia in many ethnic, social and economic demographics, residing in both public supported and private pay residential communities. We soon realized that the most common denominator of people with dementia, irrespective of their cultural and economic background, was emotional isolation. We also learned that young people delighted in befriending people with dementia. The relationships offered the teens an opportunity to shed their everyday school personae and find a new sense of purpose in caring for those who are vulnerable.
Both lessons—the isolation of elders and the enthusiasm of young people—decisively influenced Memory Bridge’s growth. An urgent human need had been disclosed. We would invite, educate, and enable a kind of communication that is intrinsically healing and for which there is no medicinal or technological shortcut.
We decided we would learn all we can from people with dementia and those who care for them about the art of communication on the other side of dementia.
The learning continues. What began as a question—What do people with dementia never forget?—has become a learning journey in communication and community with no end in sight.
Memory Bridge was established as a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization in 2004.
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