River Valley Bank taking new initiatives

MARQUETTE — River Valley Bank has taken the initiative to be a dementia friendly bank.

They found that there is a need out there to be aware of customers that do walk in and see the possibility if they do have dementia.

They set up a one on one training session with all the employees to help recognize the signs.

“We want to be able to greet them and understand what their needs are. Our frontline, our financial analyst have been trained to become aware to make really good eye contact, to speak slowly, pause between sentences. To make sure we are meeting their needs,” Kristen Derocha, Senior Home lender.

“We had Tammy Rosa from UPCAT. She attended the training with us and she let us know about the different resources we have in our own community to help people that may be suffering from dementia, and their family and their care givers,” Christian Palomki, Marketing Manager.

All fifteen banks throughout the U.P. and Wisconsin are participating.