Juniper Village at Brookline Walks to End Alzheimer’s!

On Saturday, October 29, Team Juniper donned their walking shoes for the 9th consecutive year to support the State College Walk to End Alzheimer’s. It was a blustery, bright morning, as hundreds of walkers gathered at Medlar Field, home of the State College Spikes, to raise support for this wonderful cause. Kicking off the opening ceremony was Penn State men’s basketball coach, Patrick Chambers, who proudly supports the work of the Alzheimer’s Association in memory of his late father. It was a special honor to also hear from Dr. Gong Chen, Penn State professor of biology, whose team is breaking ground in diagnostic tools and pharmaceutical advancements to fight Alzheimer’s disease. Dr. Chen spoke about his work in regenerating functional neurons of Alzheimer’s patients. Gail Hamlin, president of the Pennsylvania Chapter of the Alzheimer’s Association, shared staggering statistics about the disease:  over 5 million people are living with Alzheimer’s in the United States, with 300,000 in Pennsylvania alone. She spoke of the financial and emotional toll the disease has on caregivers, and encouraged all walkers to continue to be advocates for the cause. The ceremony concluded with the Promise Garden, in which purple, yellow, orange, and blue flowers were presented as symbols for why people walk to end Alzheimer’s. Juniper’s own executive director of Wellspring Memory Care, Liz Plozner-Chalfa, represented all orange flower-bearers as someone who works to support the vision of a world without Alzheimer’s. So far, a record-breaking $89,000 has been raised by the State College community for this year’s walk, with fundraising continuing through the end of the year. To make a contribution in support of Team Juniper, click here<http://act.alz.org/site/TR/Walk2016/PA-GreaterPennsylvania?team_id=329380&pg=team&fr_id=9278>.