The Alzheimer's Foundation of America (AFA) will host a free Alzheimer's & Caregiving Educational Conference for Southern California residents on Wednesday, April 19 from 10:00 am to 1:00 pm PST as part of its 2023 national Educating America Tour. It will take place at Hilton Irvine/Orange County (18800 MacArthur Blvd., Irvine). The free conference is open to everyone and will allow participants to learn from experts in the field of Alzheimer's disease, brain health, and caregiving. To register, go to http://www.alzfdn.org/tour. Advanced registration is highly recommended.

"Knowledge is a useful and powerful tool that can help make any situation easier to navigate, especially something as challenging as caring for a loved one with Alzheimer's disease," said Charles J. Fuschillo, Jr., AFA's President & CEO. "Connecting families with useful, practical information and support that can help them now and be better prepared for the future is what this conference is all about. Whether Alzheimer's is affecting your family, you are a caregiver or just want to learn more about brain health, we invite you to join us on April 19."

Sessions during the AFA conference will include:

• Looking Forward to a Future Without Alzheimer's – There are more than 6.2 million Americans living with Alzheimer's disease and that number is growing rapidly. There are a lot of promising clinical trials currently being done, but we have yet to find a cure for this disease. Frank M. LaFerla, PhD, will provide a general overview of Alzheimer's disease and current research efforts to develop the next generation of model organisms to evaluate and cure Alzheimer's disease.

Dr. LaFerla is Dean of the UCI (University of California, Irvine) School of Biological Sciences and a Chancellor's Professor in the Department of Neurobiology and Behavior. He is the Director of the NIH-funded UCI Alzheimer's Disease Research Center and Co-Director of NIH-funded MODEL-AD at UCI. His scholarly work has had a global influence on the field, as some of the models he has generated have been distributed to over 150+ researchers in more than 20 countries throughout the world.

• It Takes a Village: Mobilizing community resources to assist with dementia care and support- When a family is impacted by Alzheimer's disease, it can be overwhelming. Caregivers often do not know where to turn. It is important for them to know they do not have to go through this ordeal alone. There are many community resources out there to help. Jim McAleer will talk about how to access resources that are available. These include support groups, educational workshops, adult day care facilities, and more. He will discuss the importance of engaging with the community, from elected officials to local representatives, professionals, friends and family to not only provide better care for your loved one, but also to increase local awareness.

Jim McAleer serves as President and CEO of Alzheimer's Orange County, an Irvine-based agency serving over 29,000 people with memory loss and dementia, and an AFA member organization. He leads their two adult day centers (Healthy Aging Center Acacia and Healthy Aging Center Laguna Woods), comprised of over 200 employees, Mr. McAleer also founded and Co-Chairs the OC Aging Services Collaborative and currently leads the OC Strategic Plan for Aging initiative.

• Youth, Care, and Alzheimer's – We are seeing more and more younger people on the forefront in the battle against Alzheimer's disease. Whether they have loved ones living with the disease, work or volunteer in a care facility, fundraising, or are conducting research, there is optimism about tomorrow's future leaders. Giovanna Manson-Hing, MAG, CDP, will discuss how youth play a part in caring for people with Alzheimer's and what they can do now to mitigate their risks by providing healthy living tips. She will also explain how they can serve their local communities.

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Ms. Manson-Hing is a public health gerontologist and Certified Dementia Practitioner. She is Deputy Director of the Youth Movement Against and a member of Lorenzo's House Young Professionals Board in Los Angeles. She has nearly a decade of professional caregiving experience assisting hundreds of older adults with activities of daily living in the comfort of their homes.

Free, confidential memory screenings will be conducted throughout the day.

For more information or to register, go to http://www.alzfdn.org/tour. Those who cannot participate in the conference or have immediate questions about Alzheimer's disease can connect with licensed social workers seven days a week through AFA's National Toll-Free Helpline by calling 866-232-8484 or web chatting at http://www.alzfdn.org by clicking the blue and white chat icon in the right-hand corner of the page. The web chat feature is available in more than 90 languages.