The need for dementia care is urgent and growing, nationally and right here at home. In Moore County, nearly one in four residents is over age 65, with communities like Pinehurst approaching 40 percent over age 65, more than double the national average, according to the Still Us Foundation. The fastest-growing segment is adults over 80, the age group at highest risk for developing dementia.
After three years of research on dementia care, a community board and neuropsychologist, Karen D. Sullivan, announced the formation of the Still Us Foundation. The nonprofit’s mission is to change the lived experience of dementia for the entire care circle: the person with brain change, the care partner and the frontline healthcare worker.
“Families are already feeling the weight,” said Sullivan, executive director and founder of Still Us Foundation, in a press release. “There are no day programs for people living with brain change, support groups are filling up and the wait to see a brain health specialist can feel endless. Dementia is not a single-person disease. It is a two-for-one condition that upends the life of the person with brain change and the person who loves them.”
Still Us Foundation, approved by the IRS for its nonprofit status in a mere 19 days, is already gaining ground. Services begin with multiple community-based initiatives under its umbrella, with full operations to launch in October.
“We have uncovered what is desperately needed, and now, it is time to bring it to life,” Sullivan added.
Three priorities lead the Still Us work: launching the region’s first farm-based day program for people with brain change; expanding rapid care navigation and support for care partners so no family faces the journey alone; and elevating the frontline healthcare workers through better training as well as a new professional credential Sullivan is developing.
Sullivan paved the way for this effort based on three years of work through the inaugural Reid Fellowship for Healthcare Transformation through The Foundation of FirstHealth. Throughout the three-year fellowship, hundreds of listening and training sessions were conducted across the community. As a result, more than 3,000 neighbors were mobilized through The Engaged Brains Project.
Leading the Still Us Foundation alongside Sullivan is a board of directors with deep personal stakes in this mission: Sue Wright, president; Clive Becker-Jones, treasurer; and Lori Lee, secretary. Additional board members include Steven Wright, Jim Smith and Cate Mills. More than half of the board are current care partners, and all have previous leadership and service roles with other local nonprofit organizations.
“I have watched dementia move through families and neighbors I love, and I have felt the helplessness that comes when there is nowhere to turn,” said Sue Wright. “When Karen asked me to help build something that would change that reality for our neighbors, I didn’t hesitate for a moment and jumped right in the deep end with her. This community has always shown up for one another, now we have a place to put that love to work.”
For Lee, the journey began with her parents and grew with her volunteer efforts as a dementia champion with The Engaged Brains Project.
“Being a champion changed the way I see dementia and the way I see my neighbors,” Lee said. “I learned that the most powerful thing any of us can do is simply refuse to look away, to stay in relationship, to keep showing up, to say ‘you still matter to me.’ The Still Us Foundation is built on that belief, and we are not waiting for someone else to solve this problem. We are the community, and we are ready. There is a place for everyone in this mission.”
For Sullivan and the board, Still Us reflects the belief that dementia does not erase a person or their need to be connected to others. The logo’s three fingerprints represent the care circle, each unique yet interconnected, surrounding an open center that symbolizes a sanctuary for presence, acceptance, and our core human needs. Even as the brain changes, we are still us, deeply social beings who need one another.
Still Us Foundation has momentum with its fundraising efforts, already receiving more than $350,000 in unsolicited gifts. Three community groups—Dogwood Branch of the Pinehurst Garden Club, KnitWits of Pinehurst’s National/No. 9 and The Pickle Place in Seven Lakes—are organizing events to support its mission.
Several community partnerships are also in the planning stages. An inaugural fundraising gala is planned for fall 2026, with details to be announced in early summer. A Lived Experience Council and Community Advisory Councils are actively being organized to ensure that those most impacted—people living with dementia, care partners and community members—are helping guide and shape the nonprofit’s model.
The long-term vision for the Still Us Foundation is a local, multi-acre dementia sanctuary that offers a purpose-built hub for extensive day programming. The search for the right property is active. The goal is to create a model of community-supported care that can be replicated around the world.
“We have named the problem, and we have built the path forward,” Sullivan said. “Now we need our community to build on this momentum. If dementia has touched your life in any way, this is your invitation to step in, show up and help us build something better, together.
Feature photo: Still Us Foundation Board of Directors, Steven Wright, Sue Wright, Lori Lee, Karen Sullivan (seated), Bonnie Becker-Jones and Clive Becker-Jones. Not pictured are board members Jim Smith and Cate Mills. For more information on the nonprofit’s mission to change the lived experience of dementia, visit stillus.org or email [email protected].
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Contributed article/photo.
