The Still Us Foundation launched its first Still Us Sanctuary Days pilot program Oct. 2, beginning an eight-week program designed to provide meaningful community experiences for people living with mild to moderate dementia or brain change while offering respite for their care partners.
The program runs from 9:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. each Friday through Nov. 20. Eight guests participate alongside eight trained community volunteers, called friends, providing a 1:1 ratio.
Each Friday, participants travel in the nonprofit’s 15-passenger van to Prancing Horse in Hoffman for therapeutic horsemanship and farm activities. The group then visits a local restaurant for lunch. Other planned activities include working in the Still Us community garden at Sandhills Coalition, a private concert by Carolina Philharmonic Maestro David Wolff at Weymouth Center, and a Trunk-or-Treat event at the Pinehurst Fire Department with Sandhills Friends, a homeschooled preschool group.
The program is based on Still Us’ PEACE Principles: purpose, engagement, agency, connection, and enjoyment. Participants are encouraged to make choices, take part in meaningful activities and remain active members of the community.
“Too often, a dementia diagnosis begins a gradual disappearance from community life,” said Karen D. Sullivan, founder and CEO of the Still Us Foundation. “Sanctuary Days is built on a different belief: a changing brain should never mean a disappearing life.”
The program also provides six hours of respite each Friday for family care partners.
“We want care partners to know that while their loved ones are with us, they are not simply being watched or entertained,” Sullivan said. “They are out in the world having experiences, making choices, building relationships and having fun.”
Laura Thomson, whose father, Bruce, is participating in the pilot, said the program allows him to continue experiencing activities and connections outside the home.
“My Dad is so much more than his diagnosis,” she said. “What means so much to our family about Still Us is that they see the person who is still here.”
Still Us is collecting outcome data during the pilot to examine factors including mood, loneliness, physical activity, stamina and care partner well-being. The program is supported in part by a grant from the Alzheimer’s Association Center for Dementia Respite Innovation and community donations.
The foundation plans to use lessons from the pilot to inform an expansion of Sanctuary Days in 2027, potentially increasing the program to two days per week.
The pilot also serves as an early step toward the foundation’s larger vision for the Still Us Sanctuary, a nature-integrated dementia care farm sanctuary planned for the Sandhills in 2027.
Still Us Foundation is a Moore County-based nonprofit working to support people living with brain change and their care partners. More information is available at www.StillUs.org or by calling 910-800-3065.
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Feature photo: Bruce MacDonald, a Still Us Sanctuary Days pilot program guest, meets one of the horses at Prancing Horse, where Amy McKenzie, one of the farm’s PATH Intl. certified instructors, is set to work with guests on grooming and other horsemanship activities in collaboration with Still Us Foundation.
Contributed.
