SANTA MONICA—In an effort to help fight Alzheimer’s disease, the city of Santa Monica will be hosting “Walk To End Alzheimer’s” on Sunday, October 25.
Organizers for the event are asking people to come individually, or join together in small groups and follow necessary safety guidelines set by Los Angeles County, as they walk on various sidewalks, tracks and trails in the Santa Monica area.
The “Walk To End” event will be different as a result of the pandemic, but organizers are trying to keep the time-honored traditions intact.
The opening ceremony will feature local speakers, followed by a Promise Flowers presentation, which honors the personal reasons that participants take part in the event to fight Alzheimer’s, and other dementia-related diseases. This concludes with the Promise Garden in a “view only” display to honor everyone impacted by Alzheimer’s disease.
They will also be adding enhanced experiences to the event, such as new features to the Walk To End mobile app, which allows participants to track steps and distance, following a virtual Walk path, managing any Facebook fundraisers they have and accessing information and resources to help those affected by the disease.
In 2014, the Center for Disease Control (CDC) estimated that as many as 5 million Americans suffered from Alzheimer’s with symptoms typically appearing after the age of 60 and the number of people living with the disease doubling every five years after the age of 65.
In the state of California, nearly 700,000 live with the disease, and 1.6 million caretakers are responsible for taking care of those, who are suffering.
Alzheimer’s is known to be the sixth-leading cause of death in the United States.
