NAPOLEON, Ohio — According to the Alzheimer's Association's recent data, an estimated 6. 7 million Americans are living with Alzheimer's disease. Of those people, there are 220,000 living in Ohio.
Armed with this knowledge, as well as 10 years of nursing experience in both senior care facilities and hospitals, Waite Nightingales Nursing Agency LLC's CEO, Heather Waite, decided her company would work to make sure all people can live full and healthy lives.
The nursing agency is doing so by fundraising for the Alzheimer's Association's research. Waite told all seven members of her nursing and nursing assistance staff they would be raising funds for the Walk to End Alzheimer's in September of 2023. The charitable work excited nursing assistant Kiersten Vance.
"I got super excited. I'm all for good causes," Vance said. "Alzheimer's affected me personally when I was younger."
While having family battle the disease, Vance said it inspired her to work in the field. While she's only been with Waite Nightingales Nursing Agency for less than a year, she said she's proud to be a part of it. Specializing in care for seniors living with Alzheimer's and other forms of dementia, she admits the job is not easy. But it doesn't change her love for it.
"The feisty ones are the fun ones because you never know what's going to happen that day," Vance said.
Waite said the extra efforts her STNAs and nurses put into treating clients who have memory issues, all while helping those clients continue to live in their own homes, just makes sense.
"They're able to remember things a little more on their developmental level," Waite said. "Progression isn't as fast when they're in their environment that they've always been familiar in,."
These efforts are why Waite wants to put forth extra efforts into finding a cure, or at least, a delay of the disease. She uses her own money to create and sell t-shirts for the Walk to End Alzheimer's.
"We want to see people in our shirts, walking with us and supporting the cause that we so believe in," Waite said. "I could sell the t-shirts and with that, the people are automatically registered to walk with us. They get the t-shirts and then all the funds are automatically given to Alzheimer's Association."
Both Vance and Waite said September's walk can't come soon enough, and that the entire agency is doing its best to raise as much money as possible.
With all of the work benefitting the Alzheimer's Association, as opposed to the agency's bottom line, what's in it for them? Vance's answer is simple but honest.
"The 'thank you's.' That's always the best part for me," she said.