Dementia Friendly “Memory Café” Concept Moves to Rural Minnesota

Willmar, Minn., is among the first rural areas to launch the memory cafe approach to help those with dementia. 

“Memory Cafés” are places where those with dementia can gather, socialize and find support.  The Twin Cities metro now has about a dozen that have been around five years or more.

Now the concept is moving outstate to rural areas where the need is great.  Jenna Ross reports in the Star Tribune that Willmar, Minn., now has opened a popular Forget-Me-Knot Memory Café that meets at the public library. 

“It really is to give voice to the people with the disease — to give them a place to connect with each other,” said one of the organizers. “I don’t know of any other group around this area that is specifically for them.”