Baycrest teams up with youth leaders to create toolkits
for starting brain health clubs in high schools
Toronto, ON – Baycrest Health Sciences is teaming up with Toronto youth leaders to help champion fundraisers for Alzheimer’s disease research and promote good brain health behaviours in young adults.
Dr. Tiffany Chow, who specializes in the diagnosis and treatment of mind-robbing brain diseases at Baycrest’s Sam and Ida Ross Memory Clinic, was so impressed with the energy and dedication of three Toronto high school student leaders and their organized clubs to support research in Alzheimer’s and other neurological illnesses that she wanted to help their mission catch fire with more high schools.
Dr. Chow secured $5,000 in funding from the Dementia Alliance and an additional generous donation from The Moir Family to create the first batch of 15 club launch toolkits to be distributed this week to select high schools across the city. The kits contain t-shirts, a primer on the different causes of dementia, and a how-to booklet written by students for students with strategies for starting a club and a ton of ideas for fundraising events that will rouse teen participation. Dr. Chow garnered help from the Alzheimer Society of Toronto to create a section on how to plan a successful fundraiser. Information about careers in neuroscience and related healthcare positions are also included in the kits.
“High school students are losing their grandparents to dementia, and they don’t want to go the same way when they age,” said Dr. Chow, a senior clinician-scientist and associate professor in the Departments of Medicine and Psychiatry at the University of Toronto. “All it takes is a handful of youth champions to kickstart an awareness campaign among their peers, and local community sponsors to give it wings. Fifteen kits is a good start, but it’s just the beginning. With more funding we can create a second, much larger batch of toolkits to make this campaign blossom across Canadian campuses.”
The three students
Two years ago, teen Soojeong Choe founded the Alzheimer Club at York Mills Collegiate in Toronto, in honor of his grandfather who passed away from the illness. The club, which has since grown into the Alzheimer Youth Organization, fundraises for Alzheimer’s research (facebook.com/groups/alzyouth). Soojeong, 20, and his brother Soohyung, 19, cycled across Canada last summer, raising over $8,000 for the cause.
“The club toolkits have the potential to grow a student community who can raise Alzheimer’s awareness at a provincial level,” said Soojeong.
Marc Garneau Collegiate senior, Zameer Bharwani, was so moved by the sadness and courage of families he met who had loved ones with different types of neurological disorders that he decided to take action in 2011 and fundraise on his campus to support research into neurological diseases. His project, Initiative for Neuroscience & Dementia (I.N.D.), has since spread to seven other schools (www.the-IND.org). He has also volunteered at Baycrest, met dementia patients, and directed a portion of I.N.D.’s fundraising dollars to dementia research at the centre.
“Thanks to Dr. Chow and her tremendous support, I.N.D. has an amazing opportunity to expand its efforts across the country. The development and distribution of the toolkits is a vital step in the organization’s ability to truly reach its goals of educating the community, funding research, and working with patients suffering from widespread neurological disorders,” said Zameer, 17.
Schools receiving the toolkits this week include two schools in the northeastern Ontario city of Timmins, the Toronto French School, Northern Secondary School, Earl Haig Secondary School, and Bell High School. The Dementia Alliance has five toolkits to distribute to student leaders.
High schools wanting more information about the toolkits, and those interested in making a monetary donation to support the creation of a second batch of toolkits, should contact Zameer and the Choe brothers through their website and facebook addresses.
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For more information on this press release, or to interview Dr. Chow and the student leaders, please contact:
Kelly Connelly
Senior Media Officer
Baycrest Health Sciences
416-785-2432
kconnelly@baycrest.org