Starting this July, people diagnosed with Alzheimer’s before age 65 may have a recent opportunity to attach with others while exploring the good outdoors through a program called SOAR. The name is an acronym for Shared Outdoor Adventures for Resilience.

Offered by the UW Medicine Memory and Brain Wellness Center, SOAR will feature free monthly hikes within the Puget Sound area for small groups of individuals with younger-onset Alzheimer’s. Each participant brings along a member of the family or friend.

A lifelong recreation specialist from Seattle Parks and Recreation will lead the hikes. Optional transportation is provided. Hikes might be as much as 3 or 4 miles. The style of terrain will vary amongst the several hikes to supply a challenge but still be accessible to a big selection of participants. Volunteer naturalists will join periodically to speak about plants and animals within the region.  SOAR will conclude with a nature retreat at Seattle’s Camp Long in June 2024. Everyone who participated all year long might be invited.

While around 10% of individuals with Alzheimer’s are diagnosed before age 65, most support services are geared toward people at a special stage of life. Consequently, younger people navigating Alzheimer’s can feel isolated and alone. SOAR goals to alter that.

“On the Memory and Brain Wellness Center, we have consistently seen an enormous demand for programming tailored to the strengths of individuals with younger-onset Alzheimer’s. These requests include opportunities for physical activity that higher meet their needs,” said program co-lead Marigrace Becker, program manager for Community Education and Impact on the Brain and Wellness Center. “We’re excited to launch SOAR to support families on this region.”

To supply SOAR, the Brain and Wellness Center will work in close partnership with Seattle Parks and Recreation, known for being the primary parks and recreation department within the nation to launch a specialized dementia-friendly recreation program in 2014.  

“I think deeply in the facility that nature and movement combined have and am thrilled to get to activate that power with the SOAR community,” said Brooke Sciullo,  a Seattle Parks and Recreation lifelong recreation specialist who will lead the hikes.

The SOAR program is made possible due to a 2023 Innovation Programs Grant from the I’m Still Here Foundation.

The muse’s founder, Dr. John Zeisel, said, “This can be a recent opportunity for the ISH Innovations Programs Grant. We’re thrilled and excited to see SOAR come into being

SOAR will launch with a kickoff event from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., Wednesday, July 12, on the Washington Park Arboretum in Seattle. Activities include a program overview, snapshot of the monthly hikes all year long, group activities, lunch, and guided walks. Individuals with younger-onset Alzheimer’s and their families are encouraged to return learn more concerning the program.