About ADRS:

Alzheimer’s and Dementia Resource Service (ADRS), formerly known as Alzheimer’s Resource Service (ARS), is a program of IU Health Community Health that provides resources and services free of charge to those with Alzheimer’s/dementia, their loved ones, and care providers in South Central Indiana. 

Our Objectives: 

Candy Stripe Consulting (CSC) has been working with ADRS since the Fall 2020 semester. After speaking with representatives from ADRS and conducting our own research, we came to the conclusion that our main objectives for the project would be to help ADRS expand into Lawrence and Orange County, two rural communities surrounding Bloomington, IN, and increase overall awareness of ADRS and Alzheimer’s and dementia. 

What We’ve Accomplished: 

Facebook is the primary platform used by ADRS and its target demographic. However, ADRS was previously struggling with its Facebook post engagement, with posts only getting an average of 80 views. Since January, our team has been posting biweekly from the page ADRS uses, Dementia Friendly Lawrence County. We typically put up one post a week that is informational, social, or interactive to increase overall awareness and another post per week that focuses on promoting an event that ADRS hosts. Since taking over the Facebook page, the total post impressions has increased by over 6000% (when comparing December organic post impressions to January and February. 

Additionally, based on our research on the target demographic, we wanted to promote ADRS and its services on the local radio station. We helped arrange for Diana Matthews, a representative at ADRS, to have an interview on Talk of the Town, a radio segment on WBIW. In addition to preparing speaking points for the interview, we sent in a few 30 second radio ads that are now playing periodically on the local radio station as well. We estimate that we have been able to reach 70% of adults in Lawrence County through the radio ads alone. 

Finally, in order for ADRS to better understand the needs of Lawrence and Orange County, we have been helping it implement and market focus groups. This March, ADRS will be hosting three focus groups—for family and friends, community members, and professionals—with the mission of better understanding Alzheimer’s and dementia care needs and barriers to support and care in the local communities.

Future Plans: 

We will be continuing to carry out this project through the Spring 2021 semester. Currently, we are working on strategizing ways to continue increasing Facebook engagement, including asking other pages to share the content we post. We will also begin to start creating and distributing print ads to hang up in local community areas. We are excited to see the impact that we can continue to make over the next couple of months.