{"id":146162,"date":"2026-03-23T18:12:07","date_gmt":"2026-03-23T18:12:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/146162\/"},"modified":"2026-03-23T18:12:07","modified_gmt":"2026-03-23T18:12:07","slug":"dementia-friendly-dining-program-spreads-word-to-businesses-and-customers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/146162\/","title":{"rendered":"Dementia-friendly dining program spreads word to businesses and customers"},"content":{"rendered":"

A group helping to make restaurant visits go smoothly for diners with dementia and the businesses serving them is looking to expand.<\/p>\n

Darryl Bartlett, owner of A Little Pizza Heaven in the Green Ridge section of Scranton, took action after he and his wife, Toni, had a bad experience at a restaurant last year. Toni Bartlett has dementia.<\/p>\n

\u201cA lot of situations are overwhelming and can be too much,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

In addition to Bartlett\u2019s own restaurant, two Lackawanna County businesses have earned the certification to display a purple Dementia Friendly Dining window sticker. Pasquale\u2019s Pizzeria and Family Restaurant, 485 Main St., Archbald, joined in November. Taylor Deli, 125 N. Main St., Taylor, earned the certification several days ago.<\/p>\n

\"Pasquale\u2019s<\/p>\n

Pasquale\u2019s Pizzeria and Family Restaurant is a Dementia Friendly Dining restaurant. (COURTESY OF AGE FRIENDLY LACKAWANNA)\n<\/p>\n

\"The<\/p>\n

The Taylor Deli staff were trained to provide dementia-friendly service. (COURTESY OF AGE FRIENDLY LACKAWANNA)\n<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

A logo for Dementia Friendly Dining. (COURTESY OF AGE FRIENDLY LACKAWANNA)\n<\/p>\n

Show Caption<\/p>\n

1 of 3<\/p>\n

Pasquale\u2019s Pizzeria and Family Restaurant is a Dementia Friendly Dining restaurant. (COURTESY OF AGE FRIENDLY LACKAWANNA)\n<\/p>\n

Expand<\/a><\/p>\n

Last year, Bartlett\u2019s wife became overwhelmed by the bustle of a restaurant they previosly\u00a0 patronized. They switched their order to takeout. While they were waiting, she tried to head to the car and could not find her way to the door.<\/p>\n

Bartlett teamed up with Age Friendly Lackawanna, a collaborative of around 30 organizations and agencies managed by United Way Lackawanna, Wayne and Pike.<\/p>\n

Mike Castellano, United Way special projects manager, gives the free hourlong training sessions at restaurants.<\/p>\n

Tips include getting on a diner\u2019s level to speak and look them in the eye, rather than looming over them. Keep choices limited; if a diner is interested in a certain kind of dish, point to one or two items on the menu, instead of running through a long list.<\/p>\n

Take care not to show frustration, Castellano said. Confronted with negative emotions, people with dementia can struggle to react appropriately.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen you\u2019re frustrated and somebody sees it, they\u2019re going to think something is wrong,\u201d Castellano said. \u201cAnd so for someone living with dementia, whose memory may be impaired, whose judgment may be impaired, who is already feeling like they\u2019re out of place? Someone who is showing negative emotion could be mirrored by the individual living with dementia.\u201d<\/p>\n

It\u2019s not necessary to call a dementia-friendly restaurant in advance, but it might help, Bartlett said. Talking over the hum of his packed restaurant at noon on Friday, Bartlett said that if a caretaker called, he would suggest quieter times.<\/p>\n

There is a contact form on the website: agefriendlylackawanna.com\/dementia-friendly-dining<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Castellano said he has heard good things from caretakers who choose the certified restaurants and hopes more will give it a try. Trips outside the home can be hard.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur world\u2019s become very small,\u201d Bartlett said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A group helping to make restaurant visits go smoothly for diners with dementia and the businesses serving them…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":146163,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[15],"tags":[201,182,139,28,178,180,179,289],"class_list":["post-146162","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-scranton","tag-lackawanna-county","tag-local-news","tag-news","tag-pennsylvania","tag-scranton","tag-scranton-headlines","tag-scranton-news","tag-things-to-do"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/146162","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=146162"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/146162\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/146163"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=146162"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=146162"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=146162"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}