The Alzheimer’s Association Online Community continues to grow every day. There are more posters, more members, and more browsers. People affected by Alzheimer’s disease & dementia arrive hungry for information and a connection to others experiencing similar challenges and successes.

As many of you know, the Peer Volunteer group was designed to address these needs, and just as the community grows so too does the need for more Peer Volunteers! We have just completed the pilot run of this group and hope to add on new members for another cycle. Please read more about this below, we hope to see your application soon!

THE NEXT CYCLE
In this next cycle we are especially looking to add more Caregivers to the Peer Volunteer group. Although we see great importance in including person’s with the disease, we are hoping the ratio of Peer Volunteers to Members is that which reflects our communities’ population. So to meet the needs of our many caregivers we hope to include more caregivers in this cycle. Currently we have three persons with the disease and two caregivers; we hope to add 3-5 more caregivers and possibly 1 more person with the disease to the volunteer group.


VOLUNTEER POSITION OVERVIEW:
This group will-

•Provide encouraging and welcoming messages to new posters, and assist in making sure all posts from members are answered.
•Help members who need assistance understanding the dynamics and functioning of the message board by guiding them through the full menu of options available within the Online Community.
•Work closely with the administrators for the continued development of the Online Community.
•Receive training and attend a supportive online meeting every two weeks with Alzheimer’s Association staff.

QUALIFICATIONS:
The Peer Volunteer must-

•Be member of the online community with a history of consistently supportive participation.
•Have demonstrated the ability to provide supportive assistance to other members in the community.
•Have an understanding of the purpose and organization of the community.
•Have a mid level understanding of online communication dynamics and technology.
•Devote at least 3 hours a week plus twice a month meetings for 6 month cycle.
•Be a caregiver, person with a diagnosis of a dementia, a family member or close friend of someone with a dementia.
•Submit an application by the deadline to be considered for this position, and attend training and any schedule meetings.

For a further detailed description of this program and/or to request an application please email OnlineCommunity@alz.org and we will send you the application and the full details. Please submit all applications by September 1st, 2009.