Amanda and Haily from Dignity Health Connected Living are co-captains for their company’s Walk to End Alzheimer’s team. Together they are raising awareness and building community support. Through creative outreach they highlight the importance of compassion, connection, and advocacy in the fight against Alzheimer’s.

Team co-captains

Amanda and Haily are two fun, energetic women who work for Dignity Health Connected Living, a member of CommonSpirit, based out of Redding, California. These two can be found taking care of the needs of seniors in their community, either by helping them to remain in their homes (rather than a care setting) as long as possible or offering them socialization opportunities at the Adult Day Program.

And yet they still found time to add a new title to their job duties – Team Captain. Together, they are encouraging, coworkers and participants alike to join their team for Walk to End Alzheimer’s – Redding, where Dignity Health Connected Living is the Presenting Sponsor.

Partnering with the Association

Dignity Health Connected Living considers themselves to be a pillar of older adult health in the far Northern California community. Hoping that older adults and their families will look to them for guidance on both their physical, nutritional and mental health, especially when it comes to cognitive wellness. One of the ways they are doing that is by partnering with the Alzheimer’s Association®.

“In all reality, the reason this is important to us [is because] we’re very parallel with it,” said Amanda a Nursing Supervisor. “It’s something we can all see and experience one on one every day of our lives here. How it effects people and families, it’s something that means a lot to us. How we can get involved with our community to show the people that Connected Living extends beyond the four walls of our center.

“We can demonstrate that by showing the support and sponsorship [of the Alzheimer’s Association]. Yes, there is that monetary side of sponsorship, but one of the things people understand is it’s the support of physically showing up to the event that shows the community. Alzheimer’s is only growing, unfortunately, until we can find that cure. If we can be a pillar in the community to show our support to offer those services, it just makes sense.”

Building a team

As co-captains for their Walk team, Haily and Amanda are responsible for growing their team and collecting donations. “We send out emails to our team here at Connected Living,” said Haily, social work supervisor, who is known to wear a purple wig paired with a skirt around the office to help raise awareness. “Amanda is good at making the emails pretty. We put up posters with a QR code for people to scan if they’re just walking through the halls.”

While the company doesn’t host a formal fundraiser, their Executive Director offers a free lunch to all employees who donate or raise a minimum amount. “We’re food-motivated here,” jokes Amanda. “It’s something that’s worked well in the past. At the end of the fundraising period, he buys a catered lunch for any [employee] who donated the specific amount.”

Additionally, people who make a donation will receive a paper flower with their name on it. The flowers are displayed on a wall where everyone can see it. “We’ve had a lot of people do a one-time donation and we’re super proud of that,” said Haily. “They like to see their name on a flower on the wall. People will drop by my office and say, ‘Hey I donated, why is my name not on the flower!’”

As of the writing of this blog, Dignity Health Connected Living is currently one of the top three fundraising teams for Walk to End Alzheimer’s in Redding and has raised nearly $1,000.

Promise Garden Flowers

In 2024, Dignity Health Connected Living was a Promise Garden sponsor, there they helped hand out the Promise Garden Flowers, making sure each participant received a flower. “We were responsible for handing out the flowers,” said Amanda. “We had a crash course to make sure I was giving out the right colors for the right reason.”

The Promise Garden signifies solidarity in the fight against the disease. The colors of the Promise Garden Flowers represent participants’ connection to Alzheimer’s — their reasons to end the disease.

At Walk

As many of the participants at Dignity Health Connected Living are on a fixed income, Amanda and Haily understandably, don’t feel comfortable asking for donations. Instead, they encourage people to come join them at the event and walk with their team. “We invite participants to come to the walk,” said Amanda. “It allows them to feel connected to something we do. It’s a community event that makes them feel like they’re important and they get a [Promise Garden Flower] too. It shows that they belong.”

Once at the event, Amanda and the team can be found at their company table. “We all get together at the table as a meeting place,” said Amanda. “We bribe them with food. If you want breakfast burritos, you have to show up at this time.”

The importance of Walk

Haily and Amanda see the impact Alzheimer’s and other dementia makes on individuals and their families. They know from first-hand experience why people need resources like those provided by the Alzheimer’s Association.

“It really is a daily encounter for us,” said Haily. “Not just in the social services department but in our transportation, in our meal programs, we’re constantly encountering people experiencing the disease.”

Amanda agrees, “It’s something we touch every single day. Organizations like the Association provide critical resources to help people navigate the disease. This is not something that’s going away any time soon.

“These are people in our community are people that the Association can help, because with the funds, awareness and the education part of it, people can get the early diagnosis to get the understanding to prepare for things like – How do I set myself up for success if it does happen? What’s the call to action for some of these scary things, and how do we handle it if we can’t cure it right now? All those things that come across that [the Association] can help with and we can partner with that.”

As her parting piece of advice, Haily reminds caregivers to “Be patient and listen instead of offering advice. A lot of the time [people living with the disease] just want to talk and share their stories and being patient and listening goes a long way.”

However, Amanda jokes, “Never say no to a free breakfast burrito, your name on a flower or a catered lunch.”

Join Amanada and Haily’s team, Dignity Health Connected Living, or start your own team for the Walk to End Alzheimer’s – Redding on September 20, 2025. Not in Redding? Visit alz.org/walk to find a Walk near you.