Staff Report

Nancy Stearns Bercaw of Ferrisburgh is on the new Alzheimer’s Association Vermont Leadership Board.

Community volunteers provide strategic leadership for Alzheimer’s care, support and research

The Alzheimer’s Association announces the launch of a brand new Leadership Board for the Vermont Chapter. Board members will dedicate their energy to promoting awareness of the Alzheimer’s Association’s mission to eliminate Alzheimer’s disease through the advancement of research, to provide and enhance care and support for all affected, and to reduce the risk of dementia through the promotion of brain health.

More than 5 million Americans are living with Alzheimer’s, including an estimated 12,000 Vermont residents.

The seven community members named to the Leadership Board are highly motivated volunteers, eager to communicate, engage and forge relationships with local individuals, foundations, corporations and government officials in the areas of fundraising, advocacy, public policy, care and support, and research. Lisa Beilstein, chair of the Leadership Board, is guided by her 18-year experience in caring for her mother with Alzheimer’s. “I came to understand how critical the time, talent and resource of those at the Alzheimer’s Association are when you or a loved one is facing a diagnosis of dementia or Alzheimer’s disease,” said Beilstein.

Members of the Alzheimer’s Association, Vermont Chapter Leadership Board include Lori Smith of Shelburne, owner of FIS Consulting, and Nancy Stearns Bercaw of Ferrisburgh, author of Brain in a Jar: A Daughter’s Journey through Her Father’s Memory and her new memoir Tanked, which debuts in April 2017.