Watch this Space

Content, they say, is King.

It’s hard as a non-profit to create videos that go viral or blog posts that get shared thousands of times, let alone purchase billboards, magazine ads and commercials.

Recently, we were able to create, produce and run a commercial in Nova Scotia. It’s something we've rarely done in the nine years I have worked at the Alzheimer Society of Nova Scotia. The content in the commercial had to be timely, grab an audience and most important to us, portray in a positive way that you can live well with dementia.

We’re lucky at the Society; many of the people with dementia who use our programs also want to share their story. Rev. Faye Forbes is one of them. And you may have seen her a few times already.

Months after she received a diagnosis of Alzheimer’s disease, Faye and her daughters took part in our Walk campaign. Only minutes passed after the ask went out for spokespeople before I got an email that they were on board! They made a video and were part of our print campaign to encourage people to join our Walk for Alzheimer’s. I worked on that campaign and let me tell you, that was just the beginning.

Over the past four years, Faye and family have presented locally to doctors, others with dementia and health care professionals. Nationally, she was invited to speak at a France-Canada summit and she currently sits on the Alzheimer Society of Canada Board of Directors.

All to say, in this context at least, is that we knew right away who we could ask to be the commercial. Faye came on board right away (just like when I put the ask out years ago for the Walk) and met with the producer and us to come up with the concept.

We are so excited with the commercial about the Warning signs of dementia. This commercial was made possible because of support from the Department of Health and Wellness. Thank you DHW!

We are DOUBLY excited that Faye and the Society also made 10 videos, roughly a minute or less, about what strategies she uses to work around the 10 signs of dementia she faces daily. You can watch them on our YouTube channel as well.

Coming up with blog posts, Facebook posts, tweets, videos and LinkedIn status’ is hard. But when you have people like Faye who want to be a part of it all, it makes it all a little bit easier. Thanks Faye for the commercial, the videos, and for making us at the Society feel like part of your family as you dance with Alzheimer’s disease.