Her Story
About Pamela
Pamela Speta serves as Founder and Director of Forget Me Not Village, a nonprofit she established over 12 years ago in Roseburg, Oregon, to deliver quality dementia and related care to individuals in rural areas. After retiring from her position as a financial advisor with Edward Jones, Speta developed the organization following her husband's diagnosis with mild cognitive impairment that progressed to early Alzheimer's, frontal dementia, Lewy body dementia with Parkinsonian symptoms. She expanded services to include Parkinson's, brain injury, Alzheimer's, and post-traumatic stress disorder support, obtaining certifications in brain injury, Alzheimer's, and as a Parkinson's Ambassador. Speta is a member of the Brain Injury Alliance of Oregon, the Parkinson's Association, and the Alzheimer's Association. She instructs Rock Steady Boxing classes for Parkinson's, operates a wheelchair hyperbaric chamber, assists veterans through the Veteran Suicide Cafe and benefits advocacy, leads therapy groups for women with PTSD, and works with autistic children. Speta attributes her success to a lifelong commitment to hard work and believes these conditions affect people regardless of color, age, or ethnicity.
Her Interview
Ten minutes with Pamela
01What do you attribute your success to?
I believe in what I do to such an extent that I walk on the belief that you work long enough, you work hard enough, which I've done all my life, the success will be there, and that's exactly what's happened. I don't consider those diseases have any color, age, or ethnicity. It's not something to be ashamed of because it's everybody.
02What’s the best career advice you’ve ever received?
Don't work so hard. That's probably been the number one thing, but you know, that's easy to say, but hard to do, especially when there's so much need.
03What are the biggest challenges or opportunities in your field right now?
The word dementia and Parkinson's is kind of like saying you have leprosy, nobody wants to admit that it could be them or impact their family. It was difficult getting people to understand the odds, which is 1 out of every 3.
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