The final day of our conference has opened doors and galvanised change. To commence the proceedings today, a gentleman called Eric from Townsville, living with a diagnosis of dementia was added to the program at short notice and asked to tell his story. Eric’s story clearly showed us the human cost of this hideous disease. … Continue reading »
Tagged with Alzheimer’s Australia …
Souvenaid and Alzheimer’s disease
I’m in Hobart attending meetings prior to the Alzheimer’s Australia 15th National Conference, and last night the dinner was half sponsored by Souvenaid® Australia. Someone referred me to this product earlier this year, and because I don’t have AD but another type of dementia, I had not followed it up. It was referred to at the Alzheimer’s … Continue reading »
Ita Buttrose on dementia and human rights
Many times I have written about human rights in aged and dementia care as listed in the related articles below. There are many who agree with me, and then others who think I am too harsh on an industry doing its best to care for people with dementia, with low wages and limited funding to provide … Continue reading »
Last day in Taipei
The Memory Walk yesterday hosted by Alzheimer’s Taiwan was nothing short of spectacular. This picture is of some of the Aussies there, including our CEO, Glenn Rees, and Maree McCabe, the CEO of Alzheimer’s Victoria. There were over 4000 people from many countries around the world. One chap representing Hungary, two delightful girls representing Prague, and … Continue reading »
Alzheimer’s Australia’s exciting milestone achievement
It is easy to become despondent about one’s own difficulties, or about the usual snails pace of change, but once the ripple in the pond has been started, as long as we don’t give up, positive and sometimes even great things can be achieved. This week has seen the announcement of an exciting milestone. Joan Jackman is … Continue reading »
A message from Alzheimer’s Australia: Insurance Company Discrimination
Todays blog post is probably only relevant to my readers in Australia, and does not have to be specific to Insurance Company discrimination only related to dementia, but any form of discrimination by insurers. I have previously been denied travel insurance cover for dementia. I do wonder what part of dementia makes me uninsurable???? Maybe … Continue reading »
Speaking up on younger onset dementia
Today’s blog is a bit of a lazy one, an article Speakup on younger onset dementia from DPS News which I have copied in full to save you the trouble of heading off to another website. Quite a few of the people who read this blog mention they find it a bit tedious having to link … Continue reading »
Memory loss and dementia
Recently I have written a lot of blogs about what is means from a personal perspective to lose ones memory or ability to recall, so thought I’d add a simple explanation of memory loss in dementia, from the Alzheimer’s Australia website. “One of the main symptoms of dementia is memory loss. We all forget things … Continue reading »
End of life planning for people with dementia
With any terminal illness, it is important to make plans for your needs at this stage of your illness, in terms of medical care, end of life issues, legal and financial wishes. Planning for end of life issues would be better done at a much earlier stage of life, when decisions are made without the … Continue reading »
Investing in dementia
Now that the Australian government have recognised dementia as a National Health Priority, we will all be watching and listening carefully to see how this decision translates into change, reform and improvements in research, diagnosis, treatment, service provision and care for people diagnosed with dementia and their carers (BUBS). As this historic decision has been … Continue reading »
Congratulations Alzheimer’s Australia
Many have called today D-Day! The Minister for Mental Health and Ageing, Mark Butler, and federal Minister for Health, Tanya Plibersek, formally proposed that dementia be made a National Health Priority Area (NHPA) at a meeting of all state and territory health ministers in Sydney. Alzheimer’s Australia and the almost 300,000 people living with a … Continue reading »
Stigma report
This report is a sad exposé of how the general community view dementia in general, and especially the people diagnosed with dementia. Its findings show 50.8% of the respondents agreed that people with dementia cannot be expected to have a meaningful conversation, and 11.7% of respondents said that they would avoid spending much time with … Continue reading »
Ita Buttrose and dementia
Ita Buttrose is the President of and Ambassador for Alzheimer’s Australia, and is passionate about improving outcomes for people living with dementia and their families. Watch her speech National Press Club: Ita Buttrose, and the ABC 7.30 Report where she discusses the importance of raising awareness around dementia. She cared for her father and discovered … Continue reading »
Dementia: A world view
“One of the greatest challenges of our time is what I’d call the quiet crisis, one that steals lives and tears at the hearts of families, but that relative to its impact is hardly acknowledged. We’ve got to treat this like the national crisis it is. We need an all-out fight-back against this disease; one … Continue reading »
Dementia blogs and websites
Blogging about dementia has been one hell of a ride! So far, it has provided my husband and I with incredible support, but also occasionally some distress. It’s been interesting thinking about the last few days through the night. I always look in the mirror once I have been able to put aside the hurt or feelings … Continue reading »
