What if supporting people living with dementia was not only about care, but about activity, connection, and purpose?

In this episode, Andrew Karesa sits down with Haidong Liang, gerontologist and CEO of WE Seniors and the Westend Seniors Activity Centre, to explore why meaningful activity is critical in dementia care and healthy aging.

Haidong shares how his work bridging research, policy, and real-world community programs has reshaped how he thinks about dementia support. From the role of physical movement and social engagement to the quiet ways families can unintentionally hold seniors back in the name of love, he explains why engagement often matters more than supervision alone.

Together, Andrew and Haidong unpack what aging with dignity looks like in practice, not just in policy documents. They discuss how seniors activity centres can support people living with dementia and their caregivers long before crisis sets in, why caregivers need wraparound community support, and how local organizations can fill the gaps left by one-size-fits-all approaches to aging at home.

This episode is part of Podcasthon 2026, a global initiative highlighting nonprofits creating meaningful change in their communities. As part of Podcasthon, this conversation shines a light on WE Seniors, an Edmonton-based nonprofit doing impactful, on-the-ground work to support seniors and caregivers through inclusive programming, collaboration, and purposeful activity.

In this episode:

• Why activity and engagement are critical in dementia care

• What families notice first when participation is truly working

• How social connection supports both caregivers and people living with dementia

• Why aging is not a disease and how that belief harms care

• The role of seniors activity centres in supporting aging at home

• How community-based programs reach diverse and underserved seniors

• What aging with dignity means beyond basic care

Whether you are a caregiver, professional, policymaker, or someone thinking about aging in your own family, this conversation is a reminder that activity, connection, and purpose do not disappear with a diagnosis. They become more important than ever.

Learn more at:⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

⁠⁠https://www.bluebellvillage.ca

⁠⁠https://weseniors.ca

Disclaimer: The information shared in this podcast is for general informational purposes only and is not intended as medical advice. It should not be used to diagnose, treat, or prevent any medical condition. Always consult your physician or another qualified healthcare provider regarding any questions you may have about a medical condition or treatment. The views and opinions expressed by guests are their own and do not necessarily reflect those of Andrew Karesa, blueBell Village Ltd., or any of its employees, contractors, or team members.

In this short bonus episode of The Dementia Collective, Andrew Karesa turns to the DC universe and one of Batman’s most fascinating ideas: the Lazarus Pit.

Within the mythology of DC Comics, the Lazarus Pit offers an extraordinary promise. When the body begins to fail, the pit restores it. Age recedes. Strength returns. Life begins again.

But beneath that supernatural premise lies a deeper cultural question:

What does our fascination with reversal reveal about how society understands decline?

Often associated with Ra’s al Ghul, the Lazarus Pit represents a powerful belief embedded in both fiction and reality—the idea that decline should always be temporary, that with enough innovation or intervention the body can be returned to what it once was.

In this reflection, Andrew explores how that narrative shapes the way modern systems approach aging, illness, and vulnerability. Cultural stories tend to celebrate cure, restoration, and breakthrough. Yet far less attention is given to the structural challenge of supporting lives that change in ways that cannot simply be reversed.

By examining the Lazarus Pit through a critical lens, this episode asks whether our institutions are quietly built around the expectation of restoration—and what happens when restoration never arrives.

Batman has long explored questions of power, morality, and human limits. Here, the Lazarus Pit becomes something else: a mirror for the cultural myth that decline must always be undone.

If you care about pop culture, aging, systems design, caregiving, or the deeper stories that shape how society responds to vulnerability, this reflection pushes beyond comic lore and into the architecture of how we value people when restoration is no longer possible.

Disclaimer: The information shared in this podcast is for general informational purposes only and is not intended as medical advice. It should not be used to diagnose, treat, or prevent any medical condition. Always consult your physician or another qualified healthcare provider regarding any questions you may have about a medical condition or treatment. The views and opinions expressed by guests are their own and do not necessarily reflect those of Andrew Karesa, blueBell Village Ltd., or any of its employees, contractors, or team members.

What happens when childhood unfolds alongside loss — not all at once, but slowly, quietly, and long before anyone knows how to name it?

In this episode, Andrew Karesa sits down with Spencer Cline — FTD advocate, former college basketball player, endurance athlete, and AFTD Ambassador — to talk about what it means to grow up while a parent is living with dementia. Spencer’s father began showing symptoms of frontotemporal dementia shortly after Spencer was born, was diagnosed when Spencer was seven, and later identified as carrying the C9orf72 genetic variant, a mutation linked to both FTD and ALS. His father passed away in 2012, but the impact of the disease shaped Spencer’s life long before that moment.

Spencer shares what it was like to grow up inside a disease few people understood — navigating embarrassment, anger, responsibility, and grief while still trying to be a kid. He reflects on the moments he didn’t yet have words for, the silence around his family’s reality, and the complicated emotions of loving a parent whose behavior no longer matched who they once were. He speaks candidly about the freedom he needed as a child, the importance of choice in caregiving relationships, and the quiet weight carried by young caregivers who are often overlooked.

The conversation also explores the role sport played in Spencer’s life — how basketball became a refuge, a place where he could escape the chaos at home and feel normal, focused, and grounded. Later, that same drive showed up in a different form: a 3,700-mile bike ride across the United States to raise awareness for FTD. Spencer recounts the physical and emotional demands of the journey, the strangers who carried him when his body couldn’t, and what endurance taught him about collective grief, community, and resilience.

Andrew and Spencer also dig into the realities of genetic dementia — the fear, uncertainty, and existential weight of knowing you may carry the same mutation that took your parent. Spencer reflects on how that knowledge shapes the way he lives, loves, and plans for the future, and why advocacy has become both an outlet for grief and a source of purpose.

Throughout the episode, Spencer challenges common assumptions about dementia — that it only affects memory, that it only happens in old age, and that children aren’t deeply impacted. He speaks openly about misdiagnosis, stigma, and why frontotemporal dementia remains widely misunderstood, even within healthcare systems.

In this episode:

• What children actually need when a parent is living with dementia

• Why choice and autonomy matter for young caregivers

• How growing up with FTD shaped Spencer’s emotional awareness and resilience

• The role of sport as refuge, identity, and survival

• What endurance challenges reveal about grief and community

• The realities of living with genetic risk

• Why FTD is often misdiagnosed — and why that matters

• How awareness work can move beyond slogans into real impact

• The unseen emotional cost of dementia on children and families

Whether you’re a caregiver raising children, an adult reflecting on your own upbringing, or someone trying to understand dementia beyond the stereotypes, this conversation offers honesty, clarity, and a rare perspective on what it means to grow up fast — and keep going anyway.

Learn more at:⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

⁠https://www.bluebellvillage.ca⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

https://www.theaftd.org

Disclaimer: The information shared in this podcast is for general informational purposes only and is not intended as medical advice. It should not be used to diagnose, treat, or prevent any medical condition. Always consult your physician or another qualified healthcare provider regarding any questions you may have about a medical condition or treatment. The views and opinions expressed by guests are their own and do not necessarily reflect those of Andrew Karesa, blueBell Village Ltd., or any of its employees, contractors, or team members.