contributed photo The Willows of Marshalltown will celebrate in purple this month for Alzheimer’s Awareness Month.

Here’s how The Willows of Marshalltown feels about Dementia and Alzheimer’s Disease — just love them both. After all, there is no cure yet, but certainly The Willows staff sees the love Memory Care residents exude every day.

November is Alzheimer’s Awareness Month. And purple is the theme color. When people drive by The Willows on Campbell Drive and 233rd Street, they will see the building bathed in beautiful purple light. And all of the staff dresses in purple this month too. Purple means the world to The Willows.

Jennifer Stanley, executive director, said “I urge all Marshalltown business owners to also display purple lights this month for this very valuable cause.”

The Willows has a large Memory Care community, with 24 private apartments and large spaces to eat, walk and enjoy life.

What The Willows’ Memory Care staff notice every day is how life evolves from being fact-based to being feelings-based. In other words, residents may not remember things like they once did, but they remember how people make them feel. Sure, some faculties dimmish, but human feelings stay the same.

Stanley loves The Willows Memory Care residents and it is she who sets the theme that the best treatment is to “recognize and return the love.”

Hopefully soon a cure for the memory loss is developed, but until one is found The Willows is all about love.