MOSES LAKE — The Walk to End Alzheimer’s technically takes place in September, but in fact, it starts two months earlier at the Purple Party.

“I like to call it the pre-party to the Walk,” Cox said. “It gets people energized to build their teams.”

This year’s Purple Party is on July 16 at Brookdale Hearthstone in Moses Lake, the second year it’s been held there. Before that it was held at an outdoor venue, and the change has been a welcome one, Cox said.

“It was always so hot,” she said. “The participants were grateful that it was inside and air-conditioned.”

Last year’s event drew about 175 people, Cox said. The Moses Lake Chamber of Commerce partners with Alzheimer’s advocates and makes the event a bonus Business After Hours gathering, which brings a lot of Chamber members in as well.

“Each year it gets bigger,” Cox said.

At the Purple Party, folks who plan to participate in the Walk to End Alzheimer’s in September will form up their teams and make their plans. The Walk is a major fundraiser for the Alzheimer’s Association, and last year brought in almost $35,000.

Besides being the precursor to the bigger event, the Purple Party is a fundraiser unto itself. There will be raffle prizes donated by local businesses, but the big seller every year is cowboy boots painted purple and elaborately decorated by Brookdale Hearthstone residents.

“I’ll draw out the design, and the residents will paint them and put gemstones and flowers on it,” Cox said.

Brookdale Hearthstone welcomes donations of old, battered cowboy boots in any condition, Cox added.  

The money raised at the Purple Party and the Walk to End Alzheimer’s funds research into detecting and treating dementias, which is a cause that affects nearly everybody.  About two out of five people who live beyond the age of 55 will develop some form of dementia, according to a study by researchers from New York University and Johns Hopkins University. Those who don’t develop it themselves will have close friends or family who do. 

One of the areas where the research is paying off is early detection, Cox said. Detecting Alzheimer’s isn’t like finding cancer with a mammogram, she said, where you take one test and know whether you have it or not. Instead, detecting Alzheimer’s involves a number of tests, including cognitive exams, blood tests and brain scans, according to the NIH. That makes it difficult to cover with insurance, Cox said.

“It’s not a simple ‘go in, have one appointment and then there you go,’” she said. “What we’re trying to do now is get Congress to have insurance pay for those screenings the way they will for mammograms and such. We have the knowhow (to detect it), but we don't have a protocol (for testing) in the health care world that says, ‘Yeah, we need to put this and have it covered under insurance.’”

Testing should start when a person is in their 40s or 50s, Cox said, even though people who have the markers for Alzheimer’s usually don’t show symptoms until decades later.

“(The Purple Party) is designed to be a team-building event,” Cox said. “It’s about creating the energy to be a part of this incredible cause. There’s hardly anybody who isn’t affected in some way. Almost everybody knows of at least (one person) who has dementia. It’s rare to encounter someone who doesn’t.”

Cowboy boots may be donated through July 12 at Brookdale Hearthstone, 905 S. Pioneer Way, Moses Lake.

Purple Party

5-7 p.m.

Thursday, July 16

Brookdale Hearthstone

905 S. Pioneer Way

Moses Lake

    One of the most popular items at the Purple Party is the array of decorated cowboy boots that serve as door prizes. Residents at Brookdale Hearthstone paint and adorn the boots.
  

    Volunteers at last year’s Purple Party organize teams for the Walk to End Alzheimer’s. The pinwheels will be given out at the Walk, color-coded to identify Alzheimer’s patients, caregivers, loved ones and others.