Dementia Friendly Topsfield

  Dementia Friendly Topsfield lgo

Vision: To help make Topsfield, Massachusetts a caring and supportive community for those residents living with dementia and their care-partners. 

Mission: To help make Topsfield, Massachusetts a dementia-friendly town by empowering businesses, organizations, municipal employees, and residents to advocate for and assist those community members living with dementia. DFT will accomplish this mission by providing information sessions, trainings, recommendations, and follow-up as needed. 

Dementia Friendly Topsfield Taskforce Members:

Joan Chiffer

Taskforce Chair; Topsfield COA Board Member;

Founder & Creative Director of The Supper Club

Maggie ChifferMember; Founder & Creative Director of Dance Out Dementia
Karen MonizMember; Care Partner Specializing in Dementia

Current Events: Interested in learning what it feels like to have dementia? Watch Inside Dementia Minds, a 1-hour recorded discussion produced by AARP Michigan. The video highlights several individuals who are living with a dementia diagnosis as they talk about what it feels like, the process of getting diagnosed, tips for living well with dementia, and what helps them cope.
If you’d like to increase your awareness of brain health and the importance of intervening early to prevent/detect changes in the brain, watch Forget Me Not, a recording of an award-winning stage play by Garrett Davis. This video shows "the immense impact of Alzheimer’s disease on the primary caregiver, family and friends."


DFT Information, Projects, and Initiatives: Click on the list of links below to read important information about dementia, and to learn more about the DFT Taskforce's past and present projects and initiatves.     

What is Dementia? 

So what is dementia? Please click the blue link above to access information about what dementia really is, and what the early signs of dementia are. 

COVID-19 and Dementia

There are many resources available, locally, across the state, and nationally, for those living with dementia and their care partners during the COVID-19 pandemic. Please click the link above to learn more. 

Dementia Community Resources

Please click the link above to view a list of resources, both locally and beyond, for those living with dementia and their care partners.

DFT Virtual Resource Guide: Free Resources for Dementia Care Partners

The COA’s Dementia Friendly Topsfield (DFT) Task Force has compiled a guide to free resources for use by dementia care partners. The intention is to promote awareness around the many virtual resources available to care partners so that you can more easily structure your loved one’s daily activities. Please click on the blue link above to access the full guide.

DFT Highlights

Since its founding in 2018, the DFT Taskforce has been working to raise awareness about dementia in Topsfield, as well as support those in our community who are living with dementia and their care partners. Please click the blue link above to read about what the DFT Taskforce has accomplished to date.