Insight News

We are thrilled to announce that Margie Shay, one of our outstanding Sterling Reconnections volunteers, has been awarded the 2025 Loudoun Cares Outstanding Senior Volunteer Award! Margie's selfless nature and compassionate heart shine through in everything she does, making her an invaluable asset to our community!

We’re honored that our Meet Me: Community Outings program received an Honorable Mention in the 2025 Best Practices Awards from the Commonwealth Council on Aging! These dementia-friendly outings help families stay engaged, connected, and active in the Northern Virginia community. Learn more!

A fingertip guide for caregivers, and Insight’s own unique publication, Caregiving at a Glance provides strategies for managing behavior challenges and planning for future care. We are so excited to share a new, updated, 6th edition is now available!

This past year, our Sterling Reconnections Program had the privilege of participating in Loudoun County Public Schools' “Job for a Day” Program — and what an inspiring experience it turned out to be!

Have you heard the saying "many hands make light work"? Since opening our Early Stage Center in Sterling in 2022, we have certainly found this to be the case! With the help of dedicated staff, volunteers, friends, and community partners, our Sterling location has truly bloomed over the last three years. Learn more about what we've been up to!

If you spend a day at Insight, you’ll see participants engaged in a variety of activities, everything from art to exercise to discussion groups. What you may not see, behind the scenes, is all the planning that goes into these activities - or recreation therapy. Beyond just filling the calendar with fun activities - which is definitely part of the job! - activities are designed to be person-centered and provide therapeutic benefits for each of our participants.

At the beginning of this year we launched our updated website, designed to make it easier for you to connect with the resources and information that will benefit you the most. Beyond the new look, here’s what you’ll see in the new experience.

The National Council of Certified Dementia Practitioners awarded their Certified Alzheimer’s Disease and Dementia Trainer (CADDCT) of the year to Melissa Long, our Director of Education and Support!

What’s in store for the next 40 years? Rest assured, whatever Insight looks like in the future, we will continue to meet our mission - and the need for care - for as long as our families need us.

In 2022 Insight Memory Care Center added interactive gaming technology to our day programs. While we could see the benefit of the system at our center, in 2023 we were fortunate to connect with Dr. Megumi Inoue, Associate Professor in the Department of Social Work at George Mason University. She proposed a research study - learn more!

Our founder shares a welcome in our annual report: "In 1984, Alzheimer’s was still in the dark ages in terms of people knowing about it, much less having services available. Caregivers asked me, if we can take care of our loved ones 24/7, why can’t there be a place where they can go for even a couple hours a week? With the help of many amazing volunteers, the day center was born. We had a waiting list before we even opened...

We truly thank you for your support for Giving Tuesday. But it's not just a day for us to ask for your support - we wanted to give back too! We had a great time celebrating on Facebook, LinkedIn, and YouTube - sharing resources, caregiving tips, advice, and stories. Take a look below and we hope we can gift you with helpful tips this holiday season and beyond!

Insight collects program attendance and voluntary demographic information for all of our programs. This past fiscal year we served over 10,000 individuals across our care, support, and education programs, representing a 37 percent increase from the previous year!

Insight Memory Care Center’s Excellence in Memory Care Award recognizes programs and services that are models of excellence and are positively impacting memory care in our community. Congratulations to our 2024 winner, See Me at the Smithsonian!

Insight Memory Care Center’s Excellence in Memory Care Award recognizes programs and services that are models of excellence and are positively impacting memory care in our community. The 9th Annual Award will be presented at the event on October 4th. This year we have three fantastic finalists. The winner will be announced the evening of the event!

Insight completes an annual survey each spring, asking all of our participants, care partners, and families to provide their feedback on all of our programs. Here's what our families had to say about our programs over the past fiscal year, July 2023 to June 2024.

Thanks to grant funding from Fairfax County's Trauma-Informed Spaces Grant Program we were able to make updates to our Fairfax Reconnections space guided by trauma-informed design elements.

On Thursday, July 18th, Insight Memory Care Center held a community celebration in honor of our 40th Anniversary. We welcomed friends new and old to visit the center, enjoy food and drinks, and most of all, share in the memories and impact Insight has had in the Fairfax community over the last four decades.

Insight is excited to offer a new training opportunity focused on creating a dementia capable society! Dementia Capable Care (DCC) Training gives you the tools needed to be the best caregiver for those living at different stages of dementia. This training focuses on practical solutions to preventing and de-escalating behaviors, through online learning and an in-person session to address common scenarios.

As we take a look back over the past year, here's a little bit about what we've been up to and what we were able to accomplish over the last year, from July 2023 to June 2024!

Deborah Aquino is our "We Care" Employee of the Year! She has been with Insight for just over a year, and she has already made a huge impact for our Day Center participants. As a Recreation Coordinator, she works each day with participants in our Blue, Orange, and Coral groups to provide engagement, purpose - and fun!

Melissa Long, our Director of Education and Support, was honored with a 2024 Equality Loudoun Pride Award for mission in service to the queer community and the Loudoun community! Melissa has made it her mission to be an ally to the LGBTQ+ community of Northern Virginia who are living with dementia. Her work aims to ensure that everyone with dementia feels comfortable seeking the resources they need to care for their loved ones safely and free from judgement. Congratulations, Melissa!

The opportunity to become a caregiver for a loved one can bring you closer and come with many positive experiences. However, it can also be challenging and overwhelming! You have to deal with everything from how to switch a reversed sleep schedule to finding meaningful activities to fill the day. In honor of Insight's 40th anniversary here are 40 top tips from our Caregiving at a Glance Guide - one for each year of Insight!

We are grateful to have many talented social workers here at Insight who contribute to the organization in numerous positive ways and bring their social work mindset to each new or challenging situation. Whether it is connecting personally with participants, coordinating resources for families, engaging with the larger community, helping keep things going behind the scenes, or just being a listening ear, our social workers do extraordinary work to further our mission. As we celebrate Social Work Month - get to know a few of our social workers!

Research shows that the areas of the brain that control memory and skills such as planning and organizing improve with exercise. Dance has the added dimensions of rhythm, balance and music that enhance the benefits of simple movement. “Dance for Brain Health Classes” have started at the Workhouse Arts Center, Art of Movement in Lorton, and are beneficial for anyone experiencing cognitive decline as well as those interested in prevention!

Insight Memory Care Center may be celebrating our 40th this year, but we also have another milestone anniversary on the horizon. This spring marks the 10th Anniversary of our Early Stage Reconnections program! We are so grateful that Reconnections has grown so much over the past 10 years, serving hundreds of individuals over its history.

Our Early Stage Reconnections program builds community in Fairfax, Sterling, Alexandria, and online; Insight is so lucky to have an amazing team of recreation staff leading a variety of activities at each program. Whether it’s a lively reminiscence discussion, cornhole trivia, or an artist spotlight, our rec team provides engagement for each participant based on their interests and abilities. As we celebrate Recreation Therapy month, meet the early stage team!

Insight is fortunate to have amazing recreation staff leading participants in a variety of activities each day. Whether it’s brain fitness, a new art project, music therapy, or interacting with technologies like the multi-sensory room, the Obie, or virtual reality, our rec team provides engagement and support to participants in all stages of their dementia journey. As we celebrate Recreation Therapy Month, learn more about our day center recreation team and hear what they admire about each other!

We know that balance and strength training can decrease fall risk in older adults. Insight staff members have recently been trained in the Otago Exercise Program, a balance and strength training program which, if performed consistently, has been shown to decrease fall risk in older adults of 35 to 40 percent!

We are excited to announce that this year is our 40th anniversary! This incredible milestone marks four decades of unwavering commitment to providing quality dementia-specific care, support, and education in the Northern Virginia community. Here's a sneak peek at what's in store!

Each year, Insight offers hundreds (yes hundreds!) of specialized classes for care partners to build their skills and confidence while learning more about new topics, services, and dementia resources in the community. Using our own dementia expertise and working with community partners for additional specialized topics, we're excited to continue to offer a wide variety of classes, workshops, trainings, author presentations, and even movie screenings in 2024. All of these sessions can be one more tool in your belt to being a stronger care partner! Check our full event calendar to see what's coming up!

“I did a lot of interaction in my previous life, and I just like being around people. And when I wasn't doing that, it just depressed me,” shares Rick, a participant in our early stage Reconnections program. Lindsey Vajpeyi, Director of Early Stage Programs, elaborates, "At Insight, people find a community. They find others who are going through something like they are and really get it." Watch their stories.

Tuesday, November 28th was Giving Tuesday, a worldwide day of giving! You’ve probably heard of Black Friday, Small Business Saturday, and Cyber Monday as shopping days – Giving Tuesday is day to celebrate giving! But it's not just a day for us to ask for your support - we wanted to give back too! We had a great time celebrating on Facebook, LinkedIn, and YouTube - sharing resources, caregiving tips, advice, and stories.

"Insight is not your typical place. You know, at Insight, they treat the individual as an individual," shares Mary, care partner for her husband. Hear more as Mary shares their story.

Insight Memory Care Center is pleased to recognize and thank The Providence Fairfax for supporting Insight’s care, support, and education for individuals and families living with memory impairment with a donation of $10,000 to start off the holiday season!

Insight Memory Care Center’s Excellence in Memory Care Award recognizes programs and services that are models of excellence and are positively impacting memory care in our community. Congratulations to our 2023 winner, Annie Rhodes and the Virginia Memory Project team! We sincerely thank you for your impact on memory care across all of Virginia! Read on to learn more about the work of the Virginia Memory Project.

FAIRFAX, Va. (7News) — A Fairfax County non-profit that’s called a lifeline for families and patients with memory-robbing dementia held a gala fundraiser Friday night. The dictionary defines insight as a clear perception. But for these folks, insight is a very real, very tangible place. Insight Memory Care Center offers help for both the patient and the family on a journey that rarely has a happy ending. "There is nothing more gratifying than working for an organization that can create those quality moments for such an insidious disease," Anita Irwin...

Insight Memory Care Center’s Excellence in Memory Care Award recognizes programs and services that are models of excellence and are positively impacting memory care in our community. The 8th Annual Award will be presented at the event on October 20th. This year we have three fantastic finalists. The winner will be announced the evening of the event. Learn more about our finalists and the impactful work they are doing!

We are excited to share that Jennifer Denk, our Director of Community Engagement, has been appointed the Fairfax Village in the City Advisory Board, where she will serve as a subject matter expert on dementia! The Advisory Board is composed of 9 to 15 city residents representing key stakeholder groups; Jen will be able to share dementia expertise and bring awareness for those living with dementia looking to age in place in their Fairfax City community.

Receiving an Alzheimer's or dementia diagnosis is daunting enough, but navigating all the options for care can quickly become even more overwhelming. One option that many have never heard of? Adult Day Programs. While we might be a bit biased here at Insight, we believe that day centers and day programs can be the perfect happy medium for many families - support, engagement, and safety during the day, and the comforts of family and home in the evening. In honor of National Adult Day Services Week, here are a few reasons to consider a day program.

Adult Day Services Week is a special week that has been celebrated annually since it was proclaimed in 1983 by former President Ronald Reagan. The third complete week of September is set aside to raise awareness of the availability and accessibility of adult day programs nationwide. If you’re familiar with Insight, you might already know this, but first what are Adult Day Services?

Reconnections has partnered with local Loudoun County non-profit, By Faith Fund, several times over the past year on donation drives for needs in the community including food, toiletries, holiday items, and school supplies. Most recently participants and their families had the opportunity to participate in a school supply and backpack drive for local students as the school year begins!

Encore Creativity for Older Adults is the nation’s largest choral organization with 42 ensembles in 7 states and the District of Columbia, serving almost 1300 singers. Sentimental Journey Singers, offered at Insight - Fairfax and Insight - Sterling is a FREE program for Insight participants and care partners to participate in. Come sing, laugh, and play with us at Insight!

Insight completes an annual survey each spring, asking all of our participants, care partners, and families to provide their feedback on all of our programs. Here is what our families had to say over this past fiscal year, July 2022 to June 2023.

As we take a look back over the past year, here's a little bit about what we've been up to and what we were able to accomplish over the last year, from July 2022 to June 2023!

The Cadette and Junior Girl Scouts from Troop 53039 in Alexandria, VA recently completed a wonderful service project at the Insight Fairfax day center location. The project involved painting flowerboxes, planting flowers, and cleaning an outdoor sensory space for the participants.

When they first came to Insight, they were in search of ways to stay engaged after a new diagnosis (and extended time at home during COVID!). What they found was a supportive environment for both of them. Monica shares, “He’s very happy here. I know he is. Because he wants to come.” Hear more as Monica shares their story.

Our nursing team goes above and beyond to care for our participants everyday. Not only do they keep our participants at the day center healthy and safe, they also prioritize creating relationships with all participants and putting in the effort to ensure that each one of our participants feels welcome and valued. We are very grateful to have this compassionate and dedicated team as part of our Insight family. As we recognize National Nurse's Week, meet our fabulous nursing team!