June is Alzheimer’s and Brain Health Awareness Month, and Dakota County libraries are offering a
unique resource designed to help families connect with loved ones experiencing Alzheimer’s and other forms of dementia.
They’re called visit kits, and library officials say they’re helping spark memories, encourage conversations, and create meaningful moments for both caregivers and those living with memory loss.
To learn more about these visit kits, KDWA connected with Dakota County Adult Materials Selection Librarian Christy Wayne and Dakota County Public Health Coordinator Marguerite Zauner.
Wayne says these kits are filled with hands-on items designed to stimulate memories.
“Our visit kits are meant to spark memories. They include physical items to be touched, themed picture books, puzzles, conversation cards, and also books for caretakers to learn more about dementia. They include themed topics such as cooking, farming, fishing, gardening, Minnesota winters, and Minnesota sports.”
The kits also include healing music headsets, preloaded with dozens of songs from a variety of genres.
Wayne points out, “These kits also include music headsets that are meant to stimulate memories that are deeper seated in someone who’s experiencing dementia.”
Zauner says the project grew out of a partnership between Dakota County Public Health and Dakota County libraries.
“About a year and a half ago, as public health department was getting into a new topic area for us around promoting brain health and creating awareness of Alzheimer’s and other dementias, as this is such a growing concern and a chronic condition that is important to our community and our society and our public health programs. We discovered that the libraries had these kits already, and so we reached out to learn a little bit more, and we put our heads together to come up with an idea to create the additional cultural heritage kit, recognizing that our communities are changing and are more and more diverse.”
Funding support came through the Minnesota Department of Health Statewide Health Improvement
Partnership.
A unique feature of the program is its emphasis on cultural representation.
Zauner explained, “This year we were able to create African American heritage kit, Hispanic and Latino, Hmong, Indigenous, and Somali kits. And it was really unique and exciting in that we were able to partner with some of our longstanding cultural liaison partners from school districts across the county. We sat down and did one-on-one interviews with several folks representing these cultures to gain their ideas and perspectives and other suggestions that they had for the contents and the makeup of these specific kits.”
Wayne further shared, “These new kits also include bilingual and culturally relevant picture books; those are materials that are reflective of each culture’s history, language, and traditions or celebrations.”
The idea for the original visit kits dates back to 2019 when Dakota County Library staff developed the collection to better serve older adults and people living with dementia. The original kits were funded through Friends of the Library organizations at the Heritage Library in Lakeville and Wentworth Library in West St. Paul.
Library staff say the kits are already making a difference.
Wayne says, “One of my colleagues checked one out to use with her brother-in-law, and he was just kind of having a bad day; didn’t really want to talk with anybody, experiencing some of the familiar symptoms of his dementia and Alzheimer’s journey that they were familiar with. They put on the classic rock music headset, and his mood immediately changed. He was bopping around, dancing, humming, happy. They were just so grateful to see that change in mood, and it just kind of brings tears to your eyes to see the real impact of what we’re trying to do with our visit kits. He didn’t want to give the headsets back. We encouraged them to check out the kit again.”
Zauner says the kits can also help reduce stigma surrounding dementia while encouraging families to spend quality time together.
“I think that this is a great way to help reduce stigma and create awareness among the general population, all ages, actually, about brain health and about these conditions, such as Alzheimer’s and other dementias, as well as opening up those conversations and really creating a great opportunity that is sort of low pressure to be able to go visit your loved ones who are experiencing these issues, spark some memories that might be those long-term memories, and have some fun and conversation with them.”
Wayne adds that the kits can help bridge generations.
“Especially including maybe grandparents and grandchildren interacting on a different level, evoking or sparking some memories and conversations, hearing about grandparents’ childhood that you might not have otherwise hear about, sparking some ideas as they’re flipping through the themed picture books.”
Anyone with a Dakota County library card can check out a visit kit for three weeks. Traditional kits are
available at Wescott, Heritage, and Pleasant Hill libraries. The newer cultural heritage visit kits are available at Galaxie, Kaposia, Wescott, and Wentworth libraries.
The kits must be returned inside the library, as they are too large for the book-drop.
Wayne says Dakota County libraries are among the few metro-area library systems offering this type of resource.
“We want everybody to see themselves not only in the books that we provide on the shelf, but also in the other materials that we have available, especially for a very unique population of people that are experiencing this dementia journey with their loved ones.”
And as Alzheimer’s and Brain Health Awareness Month continues throughout June, Dakota County libraries are featuring displays with books, information, and public health resources related to brain health and dementia.
For more information about visit kits, healing music headsets, or to reserve a kit, visit your local Dakota County Library location or check the Dakota County Library website.
You can find links to these resources in this report on the KDWA website.
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