Born to be a caregiver
Many people tend to avoid those family and friends who have been diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease. They don’t know what to say…how to act.
Molly Bischoff reacts more like a first responder in an emergency. She’s drawn to these individuals. She has been since she was a 16-year-old high school student volunteering at a nursing home.
“At one point, a resident asked me to get her a glass of water,” Bischoff said. “When I returned to her room, her face lit up like it was the first time she’d seen me. At that moment, I knew this was the job for me.”
Two decades later, after 17 years of managing nursing homes and retirement communities in Colorado and three other states and currently serving as Aging Well Coordinator and Health Navigator for Chaffee County, Bischoff’s still committed to caring for people with dementia and changing the way people view those living with the disease.
“I miss that interaction (with residents) all day long and the little changes you can make in people's lives that make a big difference,” she said. “No one grows up and dreams that they want to live in a nursing home. I want to change the way people perceive Alzheimer’s and give them tools to interact with their loved one.”
A second career as a volunteer
Not content with just devoting her professional life to caring for at-risk adults living with dementia, Bischoff has been involved with the Alzheimer’s Association for about 16 years, serving as a community educator, facilitating a support group, leading a team in the Walk to End Alzheimer’s, and volunteering for the Association’s The Longest Day fundraiser.
“It’s so important to realize the impact volunteering has, particularly in the area of Alzheimer’s and dementia,” she said. “There’s so much sadness and joy. It fills the caregiver up even more than the person they’re caring for.”
As a volunteer community educator, Bischoff has helped engage people with dementia and their caregivers in a wide range of activities, from ping pong and pool to yoga. But her favorite is a unique program involving miniature horses.
“When we brought (miniature) horses to the nursing home, the residents loved it,” she said. “Research has shown that horses can pick up on the feelings of the residents.”
Bischoff has continued that program in her volunteering with the Alzheimer’s Association, partnering with Mini-Blessings Farm in Buena Vista once a month to pair individuals with the dementia diagnosis and their caregiver with a loveable miniature horse.
“They’re still 100 percent a person,” she said of the individuals with dementia she helps provide services for. “And there will be many more as more people succumb to this disease.”
Alzheimer’s disease is the 7th-leading cause of death in the United States, and the only leading disease without a prevention or cure. More than 76,000 Coloradans are among the 6.5 million Americans living with the disease. To learn more about the information, programs and services provided at no charge by the Alzheimer’s Association, go to
alz.org or call the Association’s free 24/7 Helpline at 800-272-3900.
Alzheimer's Association
The Alzheimer's Association leads the way to end Alzheimer's and all other dementia — by accelerating global research, driving risk reduction and early detection, and maximizing quality care and support. Our vision is a world without Alzheimer's and all other dementia.™ For more information, visit www.alz.org or call the 24/7 Helpline at 800.272.3900.