About Dorothy Colby

Dorothy Arriola Colby is a Certified Positive Approach to Care Trainer and Mentor. She is also a Hawaii Alzheimer's Disease Initiative Memory Care NavigatorDementia Friends Master Trainer & Champion, and Rosslyn Carter Institute Dealing with Dementia TrainerShe is a dementia care specialist with more than 20 years of professional and personal experience in caring for people with dementia. Dorothy is the Director of Community Engagement at Hale Ku’ike, residential dementia care facilities in Nuuanu, Kaneohe and Pali. 

Dorothy was born in Hawaii, raised in Hauula on the island of Oahu. After graduating from St. Andrew's Priory School in Honolulu, Dorothy attended Bryn Mawr College in Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania, completing her masters degree there. Dorothy has a very personal connection to dementia care: her grandmother, with whom she grew up, had Alzheimer's disease; her father had stroke-related dementia; and her father-in-law had Parkinson's-related dementia. She has worked at Hale Ku'ike since 2005, helping residents with dementia and their families to navigate through the course of the disease.

Dorothy's mission is to help families understand what is happening to the brain of their loved ones who have dementia. Through her work at Hale Ku'ike and her public dementia education classes, Dorothy helps those who work with and care for people with dementia to understand the process of brain failure. By understanding that the brain is dying, we can empathize, adjust our approach and expectations, and be able to connect and communicate with those who have dementia.