Darryl Bartlett and his wife Toni Cerra opened A Little Pizza Heaven in Scranton’s Green Ridge neighborhood in 2006.
Cerra received a frontotemporal dementia diagnosis in 2023, after years of her family noticing personality changes like a lack of empathy and emotion.
“We touch a lot of lives here," Bartlett said. "My eyes are more open. I see caregivers with their partners, so I'm more aware of what's going on. I want to make sure they feel comfortable.
Bartlett joined Age Friendly Lackawanna’s Dementia Friendly Dining initiative at the end of last year.
“I'm telling you, my wife would do it in a heartbeat. She would help anybody with anything at any time. So the least I can do is do it for someone else," he said. "It's overwhelming for caregivers and for the participants. So whatever I can do to make them more comfortable, that's all I could do."
Dementia in Pennsylvania
Dementia Friendly restaurants support customers who may have dementia, as well as their caregivers.
According to the Department of Aging, Pennsylvania has more than 3 million older adults, which ranks fifth highest among elderly populations in the country.
The Alzheimer’s Association estimated the prevalence of Alzheimer’s in the Commonwealth to be 282,100 people, or 11.5%, of the 65 and up population.
Research from AARP found that family caregivers in Pennsylvania most often care for a parent. And often, those caregivers are 50 years old and caring for someone 65 years old. The Alzheimer’s Association found that there are 472,000 family caregivers for people living with dementia in Pennsylvania. That’s nearly one in four caregivers in Pennsylvania.
Dementia Friendly restaurants
Three Lackawanna County restaurants now have the Dementia Friendly designation: A Little Pizza Heaven, Taylor Deli in Taylor and Pasquale’s Pizzeria & Family Restaurant in Archbald.
Nicole Flynn works with Age Friendly Lackawanna through her role at Elan Skilled Nursing and Rehabilitation. She got Taylor Deli involved through her ‘deli tour.’
“My husband loves diners, and I kind of start the process, and then I like shift it over to Mike and say, 'Hey, I asked at this diner. Well, you want to go follow up with them,'” she said.
Brothers Antonio, Tony, and Giovanni Sacco co-own Pasquale’s.
“My grandmother later in life developed dementia, and that was really hard for us as a family. So giving families the opportunity to give them a place where they could sit down and enjoy that meal, [and] as best we can to serve that customer, and allow them to enjoy that time and experience of getting out, that's a huge thing,” Tony Sacco said.
To become officially Dementia Friendly, restaurant staff complete a training by Age Friendly Lackawanna.
“It shouldn't look much different, but it's the commitment from the restaurant and more the understanding of what dementia is exactly,” said Mike Castellano, special project manager at the United Way of Lackawanna, Wayne and Pike Counties.
“It could just be like slapping an exit sign up somewhere, or a larger restroom sign. That could be the big difference maker,” Castellano continued.
At A Little Pizza Heaven, Bartlett implements his lived experience as a caregiver.
“We know it's tough to make decisions with someone with cognitive disabilities, so we make sure we limit the menu choices. Maybe a general question to get started, and then we can go from there. You want red or white sauce? Just give two choices instead of the whole menu of choices,” he said.
Supporting caregivers at Dementia Friendly restaurants
Lackawanna County sees the initiative as a way to get resources to caregivers.
“Caregivers are such a hard group of people to reach, and everything is like, here's a training. To be able to collectively say here's some place you can go where everybody's here to support you and wants to make sure you're having a good time, it's just a very different way for us to reach them. It kind of gets them realizing I am a caregiver and I could accept help, and maybe there's more resources like out there. This is a great way to engage more caregivers in such a simple way,” said Sara McDonald, the director of Lackawanna County’s Area Agency on Aging.
“It's really hard to reach caregivers. We've tried a couple different ways of giving them resources, but in order for them to go out of the house, sometimes it's really challenging, so this is definitely one initiative to help them to feel comfortable in going out,” Flynn added.
Castellano wants dining at a dementia friendly restaurant to be a relaxing experience for caregivers.
“It's like little pockets of respite. Maybe it's an hour going out to eat somewhere where you know that it's a little more accommodating and that the environment is going to be a little easier. We've understood that you can't tackle it all at once. You have to chip away at it. And so you have these little initiatives that help do that,” Castellano said.
‘You have nothing to lose.’
The Saccos see the initiative as a way to bring back what they see as the core tenets of hospitality.
Giovanni Sacco said restaurants are neglecting their older customers as they modernize with updates like QR code menus, ordering through IPads and automated answering machines.
“Making it a more personable experience is something that's kind of getting lost in my industry today, and that's another reason why we thought it was important for us to reach out and accommodate as many customers as we can,” he said.
The initiative helps them better serve the community.
“Almost 17 years that I've been doing this, I always felt that inclusivity is the cornerstone of hospitality. You have people from every walk of life coming through your door,” Tony Sacco said.
The brothers have heard positive reviews from customers, but they’d be a part of the initiative without any feedback.
“You have nothing to lose. What is the worst thing that could happen? You become a better person. You become a better business owner, like there's no downside,” said Giovanni Sacco.
Castellano wants to see at least 15 restaurants involved by the end of the year. And he hopes the initiative expands to Wayne County, which just became an age-friendly county.
He encourages interested restaurants to fill out the interest form.
“People are scared of the word dementia and what it would mean for them as a restaurant. But again, all it is is it's a basic understanding of human needs. It's not like you need to go above and beyond," Castellano said. "It's how do you treat people with decency and respect who are different than you is ultimately what it boils down to … Doesn't matter if they serve 10 people a week or 5000 anybody is welcome to join."
Tony Sacco believes this initiative positions restaurants to serve customers of any background.
“I think that it's not specific to dementia. I think a lot of people benefit from those simple skills and training your staff to pick up on those cues to be able to better serve your customer and make them feel more welcome. I think that that's a win, win all around,” he said.
