Fremont Alzheimer's Collaboration Free Seminar

Dementia care is the kind of problem that gets heavy fast. Families feel lost. Healthcare workers get the hard cases after a crisis has already started. And a lot of the useful help in a town sits in different places that do not naturally connect. That is the gap this Fremont seminar is trying to close on Tuesday, May 5, by putting professionals, family caregivers, speakers, and local service providers in one room for a free daylong event. ### What is happening here? The Fremont Area Alzheimer’s Collaborative is hosting a free seminar called *Stronger Together: Navigating Dementia Care as a Community*. It is scheduled for Tuesday, May 5, from 8:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. at St. Patrick Catholic Church Parish Office, 422 East 4th Street in Fremont, Nebraska. The format is in person, and the group is framing it as a community dementia-care event rather than a narrow medical conference. ### Who is this actually for? Two groups, basically. One track is aimed at healthcare workers. The other is built for family caregivers. That split matters because those groups need different things — clinicians often want practical training and continuing education, while families need plain-language guidance, support, and a map of what help even exists locally. ### What do people get if they show up? The day includes two expert speakers, a panel discussion, and a vendor fair that runs from 8:30 a.m. to 1:15 p.m. The healthcare worker track includes a speaker session from 9 a.m. to 10:30 a.m. with 1.5 CEUs available. So this is not just an awareness event — it is also trying to give working professionals something concrete they can use for training and licensure. ### Why is the speaker lineup a real draw? One named speaker is Lakelyn Eichenberger, Ph.D., a gerontologist and caregiving advocate with Home Instead. Her background is unusually on-point for this kind of event — she has worked directly with older adults, earned a Ph.D. in gerontology from the University of Nebraska Omaha, and now focuses on helping professionals, families, and communities navigate aging and caregiving challenges. ### Why do separate tracks matter so much? Because dementia care breaks differently depending on where you sit. A nurse, social worker, or long-term-care staffer may be asking how to communicate better, reduce distress, or coordinate services. A spouse or adult child may be asking how to get through meals, repetition, wandering, isolation and shared community. ### Is this just a one-off event? Probably not in spirit. The collaborative has its own site and ongoing community presence, and Fremont has hosted Alzheimer’s education events before. That suggests this seminar is part of a longer local effort to build dementia knowledge and support networks, not just a single awareness push that support, not one inspirational afternoon. ### Why does a local seminar matter at all? Because dementia care is usually a coordination problem before it becomes a medical one. People do not just need facts about Alzheimer’s. They need to know who can help, what services exist, how to talk to one another, and where to go before a crisis. A local seminar can do that in a way a brochure cannot — like turning a pile of phone numbers into an actual network. ### Bottom line? This Fremont event looks useful because it is practical. Free admission helps. The 1.5 CEUs give professionals a reason to come. The caregiver track gives families a reason to stay. And the bigger idea is simple — dementia care works better when the community stops acting like each family has to figure it out alone.