For Juleigh Prosser, a member of the 2025–2026 Project REACH cohort, improving quality of life for people living with dementia starts with making sure the people who respond to them in moments of crisis have the knowledge and skills to help.
Prosser’s work through Project REACH has focused on addressing the needs of individuals living with dementia in Clearwater County. Through the program, she came to understand just how much the needs of people living with dementia, and the challenges faced by their families and communities, remain misunderstood.
For Prosser, that realization underscored the need for a paradigm shift in how communities respond to dementia, particularly in rural areas where first responders are often the first point of contact for individuals and families navigating a crisis. Her experience was also deeply personal. Living in a small, deeply rural community, Prosser witnessed three people on her block experience the devastating effects of dementia before all three eventually passed away.
“That was really the impetus for me—to understand how to do something about this,” Prosser said.
Her research proposal recommends requiring a minimum of four standalone hours of dementia-specific training during each licensing renewal cycle for peace officers, licensed and volunteer firefighters, emergency medical responders and emergency medical technicians statewide. The proposal would also extend the training requirement through administrative rule to county 911 dispatchers and corrections personnel.
For Prosser, the work reflects a broader need to prepare communities for a growing challenge. Dementia is not going away, she says, and improving understanding among the people most likely to encounter someone living with dementia can help communities respond with greater knowledge and support.
Throughout the year, Prosser has engaged with community partners, stakeholders and subject matter experts to better understand the challenges facing people living with dementia and identify opportunities for meaningful change. Kirsten Cruikshank of Memory Keepers and Carrie Henning-Smith from the School of Public Health served as learning partners, helping Prosser deepen her understanding of dementia-related needs and the systems that can support individuals and their families.
Her relationship with Memory Keepers also helped open doors to additional community and statewide connections, complementing the network Prosser built through her own outreach and engagement. These relationships have helped her bring local perspectives into a broader conversation about dementia preparedness and the role of first responders.
Prosser’s Project REACH experience demonstrates how one individual can turn personal experience and a commitment to her community into action at a much broader level. As a resident of a rural community, Prosser entered the program wanting to better understand how she could make a difference for people living with dementia. Through training and relationship building, she learned how to translate that motivation into a research proposal that the Minnesota Alzheimer’s Association is interested in advancing with the state legislature.
Her experience is a reminder that meaningful change does not always begin with an organization or institution—it can begin with a single person who sees a need in their own community and chooses to act. By advocating for consistent dementia-specific training across emergency response and public safety systems, Prosser hopes to help communities respond more effectively to people living with dementia while demonstrating the potential for one individual's voice to create change at a much higher level.
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