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Tempe Kicks Off First 'Memory Cafe' Meeting For Caregivers, People Living With Dementia

The city of Tempe hosted what it’s calling a "Memory Cafe" on Wednesday at the Tempe Public Library.

The idea is to bring caregivers and people living with dementia together so they can meet other families, find resources and get connected with programs — while enjoying a cup of coffee.

Tempe Mayor Mark Mitchell helped spearhead the initiative called "Dementia Friendly Tempe."

"One of the reasons I thought it was important to become a dementia-friendly community is that a lot of people don’t know where to turn and a lot of people don’t have access," explained Mitchell. "And if were able to provide information and access to our residents about Alzheimer’s and where to go for help. That just means those individuals have a much better of an opportunity to help their loved ones."

The Memory Cafe meets every Wednesday morning. Tempe is the first dementia-friendly city in Arizona.  

KJZZ senior field correspondent Kathy Ritchie has 20 years of experience reporting and writing stories for national and local media outlets — nearly a decade of it has been spent in public media.