(Radio Iowa) – University of Iowa researchers are recruiting farmers with dementia and their caregivers to participate in an educational series tailored to their specific needs. U-I associate professor of public health, Kanika Arora says most dementia safety programs are focused on residential settings.  “If you look at the standard dementia safety recommendations that are used in residential settings, like removing power tools or removing tractors or seizing work completely, that can be impractical, at least in sort of the early stages of dementia, which can feel — this can feel intrusive, and this might not even work,” she says.

The Farm Families Coping with Dementia series consists of four weekly sessions that covers the entire scope of agricultural hazards.  “Like livestock or heavy equipment, firearms, even residing in an agricultural sort of like a farmstead or being farm adjacent, like you know, you still have concerns related to wandering in a cornfield, for instance, which can be extremely dangerous,” Arora says.

The next training starts in October. State data shows more than 66 thousand Iowans who are 65 and older have Alzheimer’s Disease.