Dementia Action Week took place from September 19-25 to raise awareness about what dementia is and the common challenges people with the illness and their families face.
Dementia Australia estimates that the number of people living with dementia is set to double in the next 25 years.
To draw attention to Dementia Week, Carinity recently hosted a Dementia Action Week morning tea at Carinity Wishart Gardens with approximately 30 people from the retirement community in attendance.
The guest speaker at the event was Carinity's Executive Manager of Residential Aged Care, Heidi Dowse.
Heidi has over 30 years of experience in aged care and has worked in clinical and management roles, with a special interest in dementia.
"As an organisation, Carinity is fortunate to have someone with such a strong knowledge of dementia leading our residential aged care team," Carinity Retirement Villages Manager Maddison Jones said.
Carinity Wishart Gardens resident, Mary Ellwood, attended the Dementia Action Week event.
"It was very comprehensive, very useful and well presented. It was a useful learning experience in general. All the residents were all very happy with it," Mary said.
Should you wish to learn more about dementia, including the early signs of the disease and what support is available, you can view Heidi's presentation in the video below:
Alternatively, the presentation she spoke to at the event can be downloaded here.
A variety of support options are available for people with dementia and their families. You can learn more about dementia by:
- Visiting the Dementia Action Week website
- Calling the National Dementia Helpline on 1800 100 500
- Visiting the Dementia Australia website
- Reading My home, my life by Colm Cunningham and Natalie Duggan with Agnes Houston
- Downloading Talking Sense, an audio book by Agnes Houston
