Dementia Friends is a global movement that is changing the way people think, act, and talk about dementia. By helping everyone in a community understand what dementia is and how it affects people, each of us can make a difference for people touched by dementia. This Hawaiʻi train-the-trainer workshop will cover the Dementia Friends content and teach participants to lead Dementia Friends informational sessions in their communities. Participants will receive the Dementia Friends resource materials and be empowered to become Dementia Friends Champions. This is not a clinical training about dementia. 

Presenter: Christy Nishita, Ph.D. is a Gerontologist at the University of Hawaiʻi Center on Aging. She received her Ph.D. in Gerontology from the University of Southern California. Her focus is on improving community-based long-term care, dementia care systems, workforce development in aging, and intergenerational programming. She is the co-founder and co-coordinator of the Kupuna Collective, a statewide network of over 200 kupuna-serving organizations who are incubating new thinking and action in the aging network. She is the consultant for the Mayor’s Age-Friendly Honolulu Initiative, which is creating more inclusive and equitable communities in Honolulu. Dr. Nishita is also leading policy and programmatic strategies to develop a more age-friendly and dementia-capable workforce in Hawaii.