New Dementia Day Center coming to Estes Park in 2026

After his wife was diagnosed with dementia, one Estes Park man began to take her to Elderhaus in Fort Collins. In this dementia day program, she could socialize and receive specialized care, and he could get some support and respite as a care provider.

While she enjoys time at Elderhaus, the round-trip drive to Fort Collins is not easy on either of them. In an interview this summer with the Estes Valley Voice, he explained that it took five hours out of the day to go down valley, drop her off for three hours, and then return home.

Recognizing that Estes Park is the “oldest” community in Colorado based on demographics – 40 percent of Estes Park residents are 60 or older – he reached out to a group of friends and supporters to establish the Estes Dementia Day Center.

When opened next year, the EDDC, staffed with professionals and trained volunteers, will provide an activity program for individuals living with dementia and respite and support for their caregivers.

Some 7 million people are living with Alzheimer’s dementia in the US, a figure that is expected to increase as the Baby Boomer population – some 73 million people who are 61 to 79 years old and were born between 1946 and 1964 – continues to age.

One study published earlier this year in Nature Magazine estimates that 42 percent of Americans over age 55 will develop dementia, and the number who will develop dementia each year in the US is projected to soar to approximately 1 million by 2060.

The figures are sobering. The combined financial and emotional toll of the dementia epidemic is incalculable.

While the numbers of people with dementia are expected to rise, the current situation demands immediate attention. In the Estes Valley, it is estimated that 10 percent of the population 65 and older – some 350 individuals – are living with dementia, a progressive and fatal disease that has no cure.  

The group aims to raise $500,000 to launch the EDDC and ensure its sustainability. With pledges and contributions, they are a little over halfway to their goal, and they hope to have the program operational by early 2026. For various reasons, the day center will be funded through private payment and not insurance, and organizers expect the day fee to be about $20 an hour for four hours of care.

One of the organization’s community fundraising efforts will be Step Out and Care, a Sept. 14 walk and run around Lake Estes. Jane Stuart, an EDDC board member, said the group is also working on a possible benefit concert.

In addition to Stuart, Mary Mesropian, Madison Casey, Pete Sinnott, and Carl Robicheaux are founding members.

As the community waits for the dementia day center to open, two local resources are available for people living with dementia and their caregivers. The Memory Café meets the second Thursday of every month from 10 to 11:30 a.m. at St. Bartholomew’s Episcopal Church, 880 MacGregor Ave., and the Alzheimer’s Caregiver Support Group meets on the second and fourth Tuesdays of the month from 9:30 to 11 a.m. at Good Samaritan, 1901 Ptarmigan Trail, in the assisted living multi-purpose room.

To make an online donation to the EDDC through Zeffy, an online fundraising platform that does not charge fees to nonprofit organizations, click here.

Editor’s note: The Estes Valley Voice is committed to transparency of sources. Our editorial policy states that in some instances, we will protect the names of dependent and vulnerable individuals, unless there is a pressing public need to know. Upon the request of the individual who shared his story about the difficulty in obtaining local service for dementia care in Estes Park for his wife, we have provided the family with anonymity.