PartnerRe 5K Race To Benefit Alzheimer Charity
Action on Alzheimer’s & Dementia [AAD] announced that it has been selected as the beneficiary charity of this year’s PartnerRe 5K Women’s Run & Walk.
The popular event—marking its 18th year on Sunday, October 4, 2015 at the Botanical Gardens, Paget—attracts more than 1,000 participants annually and has raised hundreds of thousands of dollars for women’s causes over the past two decades.
“We are honoured to be this year’s partner charity with such a fantastic women’s event, and we welcome the fundraising and public awareness benefits it will bring us,” said AAD President Elizabeth Stewart, who noted the event will fittingly follow Dementia Awareness Week in Bermuda [Sept 21–27]. “There has never been a more important time to recognise the impact of dementia on our whole community; it is a public health issue, but it particularly affects women.”
AAD is a registered local charity [929] dedicated to supporting people living with dementia and their families, along with advocating for quality care. Among its services, AAD acts as a community liaison to government departments and care homes; provides dementia-specific training for those in healthcare settings; offers occupational therapy services, including safety assessments and care planning for families; identifies and helps those who are living alone with no caregiver or advocates; provides a dementia-specific activities programme and hosts monthly support group meetings for families.
“Statistics show women are more at risk of developing dementia than men, and the symptoms they live with can be more severe,” added Stewart, who established the organization in 2012 after seeing the lack of services & support available in the community when her mother was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s Disease at age 67. “As well, women make up the majority of both professional and [unpaid] family caregivers. Many Bermuda women are supporting children and older parents simultaneously, and the burden can be detrimental to their own lives and careers.”
The PartnerRe 5K is presented by Mid Atlantic Athletic Club [MAAC] and includes both a 5K race for women and a 2K race for girls under 15. The goal is female fitness, health, safety and self-esteem, and all annual proceeds go to a Bermuda charity that promotes those values. PartnerRe has been signature sponsor since MAAC created the event in 1997; supporting sponsors also provide prizes and refreshments.
“This year marks 18 years of ‘Women Helping Women’ and all entry proceeds, matched by PartnerRe, will go directly to Action on Alzheimer’s & Dementia,” said Jaime Masters, Brand Manager PartnerRe Ltd. “This event has raised more than $400,000 to date towards female-related causes in Bermuda and we look forward to another successful event on Sunday, October 4.”
Alzheimer’s, which has no cure, is one of numerous types of dementia, and the most common. A progressive illness that destroys areas of the brain, it causes memory loss, confusion, and eventual loss of speech, understanding and movement.
Dementia costs to the global economy are estimated to be more than cancer and heart disease combined, yet research is underfunded. Worldwide, some 50-million people live with dementia—an estimated 1,000 in Bermuda alone.
“MAAC is delighted to be working in collaboration with AAD for the PartnerRe 5K Women’s Run & Walk,” said MAAC race director Rose-Anna Hoey. “The race focuses on fun, health and fitness, and we encourage participants. Our sponsors have given us amazing prizes again this year, and there will, of course, be goody bags for the first 1,000 at number pick up the day before the race.”
The PartnerRe 5K starts and finishes at the Botanical Gardens, with the junior race for girls starting at 8:15 am, followed by adult runners and competitive walkers at 9 am, and fun run, walkers and strollers at 9:10 am. Registration, to open later this week, is online via racedayworld.com, or via paper entry forms at Sportseller, Washington Mall, Hamilton.
Further information will be available on partnerre5k.bm or on Facebook [PartnerRe 5K Women’s Run & Walk]. For more information on AAD, please contact 707-0600 or alzbermuda@yahoo.com.
