PURTO

MARSHALL — Living with dementia, or caring for someone with dementia, can be a difficult experience. But on Tuesday evening, area residents said they were pushing back against that darkness with joy.

Jaen Weilage had the crowd gathered at the Marshall Area YMCA repeat after her: “Help us find moments of joy!”

“That’s going to be our mantra, as we walk around today,” Weilage said as the 2025 Walk for Memories got started. “We need to remember to live life to the fullest,” she said. “Make the memories that we can, and make them special.”

Walkers dressed in purple and carrying pinwheels and ribbons walked around the Y to honor people with dementia and their loved ones.

Marshall Area Dementia Awareness Network (MADAN) coordinator Jane Nelson Como said the Walk for Memories was both a chance to raise awareness of dementia, and to share information and resources. She was glad to see people come out to take part in the walk and events at the Y.

“We’re glad it was a nice day,” Nelson Como said. “We couldn’t have asked for better.”

Tuesday’s event had a mix of fun activities, like coloring pages and a petting zoo, as well as booths with resources for people and caregivers coping with dementia. In one part of the YMCA’s meeting room, Jody Hexem, the Lincoln County program manager for A.C.E. of Southwest Minnesota, was helping visitors try on a special set of virtual-reality goggles.

The VR experience was designed to help people experience some of the symptoms that a person living with Alzheimer’s may have, Hexem said.

“It’s a little blurry,” Neil Eichten said, after putting on the VR goggles. Changes in vision were one of the sensory impairments that people with Alzheimer’s can experience.

Eichten, who works at Big Stone Therapies, said some of the patients he works with have dementia, and he wanted to get a better idea of what they are going through. “I wanted to see it from their perspective,” he said.

Many of the people at Monday’s walk were remembering family members and loved ones who had dementia or Alzheimer’s disease. Walkers Karen Schmugge, Linda Gladis and Mary Jo Bossuyt each said they had relatives who had dementia. The three women said being part of the Walk for Memories event and other educational events helped them learn what people with the disease are going through.

Schmugge said she had taken a virtual dementia tour in the past, and recommended it.

“It’s a good thing to do. It really lets you know what people are going through,” she said.

Nelson Como said MADAN was selling purple dementia awareness shirts during the Walk for Memories event. The shirts will still be for sale until the end of June, she said. An online store is open at https://stores.apdesignpro.com/madan.