EnergizeCare

10/02/2026

Thank you to Lori Sunderland, Nessie and Pet Partners Central Ohio.
I continue to realize that our wonderful people with dementia and their care partners need many of the same things: engagement, connection, friendship, love and hope. That is why EnergizeCare sessions are for both. Care partners can take time for respite, or stay, participate, connect and find some strength themselves. I know because that is what these sessions do for me every week.
This weekend, I felt Nessie's warmth and unconditional acceptance and watched our wonderful people experience that same beautiful connection.
Thank you, Lori, Nessie and Pet Partners Central Ohio. Our wonderful people need EnergizeCare, and their care partners need EnergizeCare too. No one deserves to go through this journey alone.

Please join us for Champions of Care on November 14 at The Estate at New Albany.

See Our Wonderful People®.

09/30/2026

Thank you to Chris Bouzounis and Choose Kind for a $10,000 donation to EnergizeCare.

This past Saturday, Chris Bouzounis, one of our wonderful people and someone I affectionately call my adopted father, was riding with me to our EnergizeCare session in New Albany. We were enjoying a beautiful sunny morning, talking and enjoying each other’s company, when Chris spontaneously said, “Your presence brings the spring of happiness to my soul.”

I thought this must be a familiar Chris expression, but his son and daughter told me they had never heard him say those words before. That made the moment even more meaningful. Chris found his own beautiful words to describe exactly how he felt, and it reminded me again that although facts may fade, our wonderful people will never forget how you made them feel.

Chris then gave EnergizeCare another incredible gift: a $10,000 donation from his Choose Kind nonprofit organization to support the Care Partner Library at Lisa’s Place. I am so grateful for his generosity and for the friendship and love he has brought into my life.

Our wonderful people should not live alone with this disease. There is more to our wonderful people than the dementia. It is possible for our wonderful people to live well with dementia.

See Our Wonderful People®.

Please join us for Champions of Care on Saturday, November 14, from 5:30–9:30 p.m. at The Estate at New Albany. Your support will help us continue creating respite, engagement, connection and hope for families living with dementia throughout Central Ohio.

09/29/2026

Dear EnergizeCare Friends and Supporters,

Only 3 days left to register in time to receive your EnergizeCare T-shirt for the October 11 Walk to End Alzheimer’s!

Friday, October 2 is the deadline in time to receive a T-shirt. Please click the link below, enter EnergizeCare as your team name, register, and then send me your T-shirt size.

https://www.energizecareoh.org/walk

Let’s come together in a powerful show of unity as we support the Alzheimer’s Association, raise dementia awareness, and introduce more people to our See Our Wonderful People® movement.

This Walk comes at an exciting time as we prepare to launch Lisa’s Place, our new dementia hub in Dublin and a model we hope will be among the first of its kind in the Midwest.

EnergizeCare will have a table where we can gather, connect, and enjoy fellowship together. Let’s bring our ENERGY to the Walk and invite others to join our movement!

October 11:
• Doors open: 12:00 PM
• Opening Ceremony: 2:00 PM
• Walk immediately following

Questions before the event: [email protected]
Day of the Walk: 614-805-4841

I hope you will join us and walk together for Our Wonderful People!

With gratitude,
Dr. Ken Vitellas
Founder & President, EnergizeCare
See Our Wonderful People® – Dementia Be Loving & Kind

09/28/2026

The more EnergizeCare sessions I attend, the more I realize something I did not fully understand when we started. Our sessions are not just for our wonderful people living with dementia. They are also for their care partners, our volunteers, staff, families and community.

When care partners stay and participate alongside the person they love, I can see the stress of caregiving give way, even if only for a few hours, to laughter and connection. For a little while, they are not simply a caregiver and a person living with dementia. They are a husband and wife, a mother and daughter, a father and son, or simply two people enjoying life together.

Our volunteers experience something similar. Many have come up to me after a session and told me it was one of the most wonderful days of their lives and that they could not wait to come back. They arrive expecting to give their time to someone else and discover how much they receive in return.

I experience it myself. I started EnergizeCare because of my journey with Lisa and because I wanted other families to have the support, respite, engagement and community that I know we all need. But EnergizeCare has given something back to me that I did not expect. It gives me the energy and hope to continue caring for Lisa, to be there for my children, to continue my work as a physician and to keep moving this mission forward.

We design our programs to create connection, purpose and dignity for our wonderful people living with dementia. What I have come to understand is that something meaningful is also being created for everyone who takes part.

That is what makes EnergizeCare different to me. Whether through one of our engagement sessions, a support group, education based on real-life experience, or simply bringing families together, we are building a community where people can support and strengthen one another.

I invite you to experience it for yourself. Spend some time with our wonderful people. Meet our care partners and volunteers. See what happens when people come together with a shared purpose.

No one should have to live this journey alone.

09/28/2026

Get your tickets today!
https://www.zeffy.com/en-US/ticketing/champions-of-care-energizecare-fundraiser

09/24/2026

The more EnergizeCare sessions I attend, the more I realize something I did not fully understand when we started. Our sessions are not just for our wonderful people living with dementia. They are for the care partners, volunteers, staff, families and our entire community.

When care partners stay and participate in a session alongside the person they love, I see something happen. I see the stress of caregiving replaced, even if only for a few hours, by laughter, connection, love and hope.

For a little while, they are not just a caregiver and a person living with dementia. They are a husband and wife, a mother and daughter, a father and son, or simply two people enjoying life together again.

I see something similar with our volunteers. Many have come up to me after a session and said, “This has been one of the most wonderful days of my life. I cannot wait to come back.”

They arrive thinking they are coming to give their time and help someone else, and then realize how much they receive in return.

I experience it myself.

I started EnergizeCare because of my journey with Lisa and because I wanted other families to have the support, respite, engagement and community that I know we all need. But EnergizeCare has given something back to me that I never expected.

It gives me energy. It gives me hope. It gives me strength to continue caring for Lisa, to be there for my children, to continue my work as a physician and to keep moving this mission forward.

We intentionally design our programs to create love, hope, dignity, connection, purpose and strength for our wonderful people living with dementia. What I now understand is that those same things are being created in all of us.

That is what makes EnergizeCare different to me. Whether it is a respite and engagement session, a support group, education based on real-life experience, or simply bringing families and our community together, we are all receiving something from each other.

I invite you to come experience it.

Come spend time with our wonderful people. Come meet our care partners and volunteers. Come experience the joy, the love, the hope and the ENERGY of EnergizeCare.

No one should have to live this journey alone.

See Our Wonderful People®

Join us for our Champions of Care Fundraising Event and help us continue creating opportunities for connection, engagement and community for people living with dementia and their care partners.

Saturday, November 14, 2026
5:30–9:30 p.m.
The Estate at New Albany

https://www.zeffy.com/en-US/ticketing/champions-of-care-energizecare-fundraiser

A NIGHT TO SUPPORT CARE PARTNERS, FAMILIES & FRIENDSJoin us for...An inspiring evening dedicated to supporting the mission of EnergizeCare Central…

09/11/2026

Yesterday was one of those days I will remember for a long time.

We had two new participants join our EnergizeCare family at the Columbus Zoo.

Early in the day, one of them saw someone he knew. I watched their faces as they recognized each other. Maybe every name, place and detail wasn’t immediately available, but something much more important was.

They remembered the connection.

There was a smile, and then a beautiful hug. You could feel the history between them without anyone having to explain it.

Later, I watched one of our new participants slowly become more comfortable with us. He engaged. He moved. He participated. His care partner and niece watched it happen too.

We walked through the Zoo together, enjoyed the sunshine and animals, and sat down to share a meal. We talked and reminisced. Sometimes the most meaningful thing we can give another person is simply our presence.

Then came the Memory Disco.

One of our new participants put on the headphones, heard the music and reached for me to dance.

So we danced.

Before long, everyone was involved. YMCA had us moving, and when The Loco-Motion came on, we formed a train and danced together. There was laughter everywhere.

It wasn’t complicated. It was just joyful.

At the end of the afternoon, we slowly made our way toward the exit. There was a little sadness in saying goodbye and already a feeling of, “When are we doing this again?”

On the way home, I thought about what these sessions have come to mean to me personally.

I am a care partner too.

Every EnergizeCare session leaves me a little stronger, happier and more relaxed. Our wonderful people give me hope and strength for the months ahead caring for my wonderful wife, Lisa.

I thought I created EnergizeCare to help other families.

What I keep discovering is how much they help me.

That’s fellowship. That’s community. That’s love.

See Our Wonderful People®.

This is EnergizeCare.

09/09/2026

On August 21, 2026, we welcomed Pet Partners Central Ohio into the EnergizeCare community, and I’m really excited about what this partnership can bring to our wonderful people.

If you have ever loved a dog, cat or another pet, you probably understand why this means so much to us. Sometimes an animal can reach someone without saying a word.

A hand resting on a dog. An animal sitting quietly beside you. That feeling of comfort and security that comes from knowing you aren’t alone.

For our participants living with dementia, these moments can be especially meaningful. A dog may bring back a memory of a childhood pet. A photograph may start a story. And even when all the details of a memory are no longer there, the feeling connected to that experience may remain.

We call that emotional memory, and we want to find as many ways as possible to reach it.

Pet Partners Central Ohio volunteers and their therapy animals will have opportunities to join us in person at Lisa’s Place in Dublin and during our programs at the Philip Heit Center for Healthy New Albany. We will also create virtual opportunities for volunteers to share their animals, photos, videos and stories.

At EnergizeCare, we are always looking for new ways to reduce isolation and create meaningful connection with our wonderful people. We want them to experience love, dignity, engagement, stimulation, security, togetherness and hope.

I am very grateful to Kim Vohs, Co-Leader of Pet Partners Central Ohio, and to all of the volunteers who will be sharing their time and their animals with us.

I think there are going to be some pretty special moments ahead.

Learn more about Pet Partners:
https://petpartners.org/

09/08/2026

What a meaningful Sunday afternoon. 💙

On September 6, Dr. Ken joined REAL & RAW on 98.9 FM with two wonderful guests:

🩺 Dr. Douglas Scharre, neurologist, professor and dementia researcher at The Ohio State University

💙 Dr. Jennifer Stelter, clinical psychologist, dementia educator, Founder of the Dementia Connection Institute and Senior Advisor to EnergizeCare

Robert Cooperman joined Boots Longenette and filled in for Mindy Drayer as co-host.

The conversation centered on something families know all too well:

Receiving the diagnosis is only the beginning. What happens when you go home?

There is tremendous hope in dementia research and new treatments, but families also need education, support, respite, friendship and meaningful ways for both the person living with dementia and the care partner to stay connected to their community.

Listen to Part One on REAL & RAW
https://omny.fm/shows/real-raw-with-mindy-and-boots/guests-dr-ken-and-dr-jennifer-of-energized-care

Listen to Part Two on REAL & RAW
https://omny.fm/shows/real-raw-with-mindy-and-boots/energized-care-continued

09/02/2026

Hello Friends,

Lisa and I are still together at home as she lives through the final stage of this terrible disease.

Watching the person you love live with dementia changes you. But it has not weakened our mission. If anything, it has made me even more determined to help other families walking this difficult journey.

This October, we will honor Lisa with the opening of Lisa’s Place, our new dementia community hub near I-270 and Sawmill Road in Dublin. My hope is that what we create here in Central Ohio can become a model for other communities throughout Ohio and, someday, across the country.

On November 14, we will come together at The Estate at New Albany for our inaugural Champions of Care celebration, and I am asking our friends, supporters and the entire Central Ohio community to be part of it.

Purchase a ticket to celebrate with us and have a great time.
Donate an auction item.
Sponsor our mission.
Volunteer.
Make a contribution.
https://lnkd.in/e2_gjBj9

Most of all, help us spread the See Our Wonderful People® movement and tell everyone about what we are doing.

Lisa has taught me that even when dementia takes so much away, the person we love is still there. They still deserve joy, connection, dignity and love.

That is why we started EnergizeCare.
That is why we are building Lisa’s Place.
And that is why I hope you will join us.

"There is always more to the person than dementia"

Ken