Oakwood Creative Care (OCC), a Mesa-based nonprofit celebrating 50 years of sparking joy, purpose, and connection for older adults and their families, is applauding the City of Tempe for its plans to create a first-of-its-kind dementia- and age-friendly space within Kiwanis Park.
Tempe’s Age-Friendly Action Plan
As Arizona’s Family reported, the planned park will create a welcoming outdoor environment designed with people living with dementia, their care partners, and older adults in mind. Features such as wide, accessible pathways and calming sensory elements, including wind chimes, will help make the space easier and more enjoyable to navigate. The project is part of Tempe’s broader Age-Friendly Action Plan and represents an encouraging step toward building communities where people of all ages and abilities can continue to connect, participate, and feel that they belong.
“Kudos to the City of Tempe,” said Sherri Friend, CEO of Oakwood Creative Care. “A dementia- and age-friendly park sends a powerful message: people living with memory loss deserve opportunities to remain connected to the people, places, and experiences that bring meaning to their lives. As neighbors here in the East Valley, we are incredibly proud to see Tempe creating a space that welcomes older adults and families with such intention.”
Champions for Age-Friendly Support in All Areas
For OCC, Tempe’s announcement is another encouraging sign of a broader shift taking place across the Valley: communities are beginning to think differently about what it means to truly include and support people as they age.
It is a movement OCC has championed for decades. For 50 years, the nonprofit has worked alongside older adults and families through Adult Day Clubs, Brain Health Hubs, caregiver education and support, and community-based initiatives across Arizona. OCC also founded and continues to lead Dementia Friendly Mesa, a community-wide effort that helped Mesa earn recognition through Dementia Friendly America.
Through free Dementia Friends trainings, a Dementia Friendly Business program, first responder education, Memory Cafés, and partnerships throughout the community, OCC is helping transform everyday spaces into places where people living with dementia and their care partners can feel understood, supported, and welcomed.
“This is what neighboring communities do for one another,” said Gordon Sims, Chief Philanthropy Officer at Oakwood Creative Care.
“Every day, we see what becomes possible when families, businesses, first responders, community leaders, and care partners come together around a shared goal of inclusion. Tempe’s commitment is a wonderful reminder that creating dementia-friendly communities is bigger than any one organization or city. It takes all of us, and we are cheering Tempe on.”
This work is becoming increasingly important. Arizona is experiencing significant growth in the number of people living with Alzheimer’s disease and related dementias, making thoughtful, inclusive community planning more important than ever.
For OCC, the vision is simple: a diagnosis should never mean losing your place in the community.
As Tempe moves forward with its dementia and age-friendly park, OCC celebrates the project as another meaningful step toward a community where older adults, people living with dementia, and the families who walk alongside them can continue to explore, connect, participate, and experience joy together.
Watch: Tempe to open “first-of-its kind” dementia inclusive park
With its newly licensed services, OCC is ready to help more families move from uncertainty and isolation toward a clear path of care, connection, hope, and joy. Older adults, family caregivers, healthcare professionals, and community partners are encouraged to contact the Chandler campus to explore Adult Day Health Care respite, outpatient therapy, caregiver support, and other available resources.
To learn more, schedule a tour, make a referral, or connect with the OCC team, email Info@OakwoodCreativeCare.org.
Photo credit: Hunter Trick (TrickHunter), CC BY-SA 4.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0>, via Wikimedia Commons
Creative Aging, at Every Stage & for Every Age
Oakwood Creative Care is bringing back the JOY in aging! We believe a diagnosis should not have to define your life. Instead, we have devoted our mission to reigniting hope for caregivers and older adults with Alzheimer’s, dementia, and other age-related challenges.
