Worrying is normal for the person living alongside a person with dementia, and as a family care partner or support person for a few people who have died from dementia I understand too well how difficult it is not to worry. When you love someone, and they are sick or troubled, not only do you…
This is not rocket science, and the organisations promoting the dementia friends messages and campaigns, need to start within so they are walking their own talk. There is not need to ‘sign up’ to anything, just start… Take baby steps. They are not expensive and in fact, many cost no money at all, but they can make a…
Thank you Mick Carmody for inspiring me today with this wonderful poem, Inability to ACT. After hosting and contributing at the online Tribute to Richard Taylor today, I am too emotionally exhausted to publish anything of my own, and this poem, which I know was a tribute to Richard, says it all for me today. This is…
Australia, and many other countries have until recently had no national guidelines for the post diagnostic support of people with dementia, which I see as more than a failing, but as unethical. However it is encouraging to be able to report that the national clinical guidelines recently drafted went out to the public for comment before they are to be finalised, hopefully by…
As I have mentioned many times since being diagnosed with dementia, I am living as if it is the Olympics of my life, and use a large number of non pharmacological and positive psychosocial interventions that have not only increased my sense of well being, they have, I believe, slowed the deterioration of dementia, and…
This quote by Danny Miller is one of my favourites, and is also used in the header of a blog I follow, The PPJ Gazette. This article although nor specifically discussing the dangers of the use of anti psychotics in dementia care, warns very clearly of the dangers of prescribing them, and is worth a…
Just for something different, I am interstate doing a few things related to dementia. This view from my motel room in Gosford today is glorious, although for most of the rest of today I’ll be hanging out in the local RSL club. As a guest in the motel of this club, I was even offered a…
Yesterday I was invited to give a presentation at the Better Practice Adelaide 2015 conference held at the Hilton Hotel, and most of the time now when I present, I also always represent Dementia Alliance International in some way. The theme of this event was Quality – Through the looking glass: What’s new in 2015. One…
Hello. The blog A Manifesto For Radical Inclusion written by Dr Al Power on ChangingAging has a taste of Richard Taylor in it. The gloves are no longer hanging on the wall of the gym, they are coming off, all around the world. As Al mentioned last week, Richard once sent him an email saying, “Welcome. I’ve been…
There has been a national outcry by most Australians over the booing of Adam Goodes, the current Australian of The Year, and an elite Indigenous Swans AFL football player. I totally agree with it, and find the booing of anyone, at any level, for any reason in sport, or anywhere, is unacceptable. In my opinion,…
I have learned a lot of lessons in my life, with many to learn I am sure, but perhaps none so important as this one from knowing Richard Taylor. Mostly, Richard taught me to live beyond the diagnosis of dementia; stop crying, dismiss the PLOM (Poor Little Old Me) disease I had after the diagnosis, and to…
Apparently four years ago today I set up this blog, although it doesn’t feel like my 4th anniversary, as I didn’t really start writing and publishing blogs until the 2nd September 2011, many weeks later. But, I guess it is still worth celebrating, as the seed was actually planted on this day four years ago, and blogging…
Almost daily I read or hear about another Dementia Friends or Dementia Friendly Communities campaign. Groups of people working in the sector, getting excited about what they might be able to achieve, how they might be able to improve the lives of people with dementia and our families and support us better to live well,…
The SBS program I was involved in titled Dancing with Dementia which was filmed in their studio a few months ago now, and has been to air I feel was invaluable as a changing point to the discourse of tragedy that continues in the media. Their goal was to show a more balanced view of…
The topic of sex and dementia is one I have been thinking about writing on for some time, and now seems the right time to post something about it. Many have written and talked about people with dementia and sexuality, including writing articles and books about it, but so far, I have not found very…
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