Quinte area to walk for Alzheimer awareness

By Sean McIntosh

BELLEVILLE – Quinte residents will be walking for Alzheimer awareness at the end of the month.

January is Alzheimer Awareness Month in Canada, with walks taking place all over the country, including locally in Trenton, Bancroft and Picton.

There is a high number of people who are affected by the disease, Amelia Huffman, fund development coordinator at the Alzheimer Society of Hastings-Prince Edward, told QNet News.

“We have a large retirement community and that results in a large community of people who require our services,” she said.

Alzheimer Awareness Month is an important time for the society, Huffman said.

“There is a huge stigma attached to Alzheimer’s, so this year we’re really focusing on just making people more aware and hoping they can educate themselves on the topic,” she said.

These are the times and locations of the walks:

• Bancroft: 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. on Jan. 30 at the North Hastings High School
• Picton: 1 p.m. to 3 p.m. on Jan. 30 at the Prince Edward Collegiate Institute
• Trenton: 9 a.m. to 10:30 a.m. on Jan. 31 at the Quinte West YMCA

This is the first year a walk has been organized in Trenton, Picton and Bancroft. So far Trenton has raised around $500 and Bancroft has raised $4,100, Huffman said.

Belleville has had a walk for the past 15 years, Huffman said, but this year it will be held in May instead. This is due to the nationwide move towards a spring walk.

Changing the walk to a month with warmer weather would hopefully increase the amount of participants and attention for the cause, said Huffman. In  previous years, about 100 people have participated in the Belleville event, she added.

In Canada, 747,000 people live with the disease, according to the Alzheimer Society’s website. More than $1-million has been raised this year nationwide.