Dementia is the second leading cause of death of all Australians.
Provisional data from Dementia Australia predicts that it will soon become the leading cause.
This begs the question, that is the Australian community “dementia ready?”
National Seniors Australia (NSA) doesn’t think so.
In fact, they believe Australia is decades behind our European counterparts.
The NSA have recently begun calling on local businesses to be more dementia ready, whilst at higher corporate and strategic levels, they want industries to develop dementia action plans.
They are asking for these plans to be included across all sectors, from hospitality to tourism, as everything needs to become accessible.
Who’s being affected?
Fran Levinson is 62-year-old mother of three girls and is seven years into her dementia journey.
Having moved into a care facility in 2020, the whole family’s lives have changed for good.
Daughter Maya acknowledges that the level of care in Fran’s facility is exceptional, but this is not the case for a lot of other patients.
“There is an exceptional standard of care particularly at my mother’s facility, [but] it’s definitely something you have to be willing to pay for…” she says.
For many families who can’t afford the premium care facilities, the help that many of these dementia patients receive is below standard.
These factors in combination with aged care and memory support homes being often at capacity or filling up fast, it can be incredibly challenging to navigate placements for patients.
So, what’s being done in WA?
On August 13 Alzheimer’s WA hosted a Dementia Symposium at the Perth Convention and Exhibition Centre.
This year’s theme for the event was “Building a Dementia Friendly State: Made in WA” and by using different elements and presentations, the Symposium explored how WA can become a more dementia-inclusive state to live.
The main areas the symposium addressed were sectors such as tourism, healthcare, education, community, policy and everyday spaces.
Marketing Manager for the organisation, Jonelle Kapsalos explained that this year’s symposium, followed the successes of last year’s.
“It [built] on last year’s success, which featured addresses from the Hon. Emma McBride, Federal Assistant Minister for Mental Health and Dr Shirley Bowen, Director General.
With this year’s attendees [coming] from aged care, hospital, and community services, the Dementia Symposium [provided] an important platform to showcase Western Australia’s leadership in dementia care.”
This year’s symposium came at an important time for the state, as the theme coincides with the Government’s recent election announcement of the state’s first dementia action-plan to create dementia-friendly communities.
Western Australia is the first state in the country to implement an Action Plan.
This year’s guest speakers included; Hon. Meredith Hammat MLA (Minister for Health and Mental Health), Carol Peterson (Patron and Cultural Adviser Indigenous Consulting Group), Kedy Kristal (Executive Officer at GLTBI Rights in Ageing) and Emily Roussos (Learning and Engagement Officer at WA Museum Boola Bardip).
Maya believes the symposium is incredibly necessary as there are many different types of dementia.
“The numbers make the dementia symposium crucial to create awareness.
[It makes us] think about preventative measures, learn more about how to communicate and understand people living with dementia and to hopefully gain more traction to work towards a cure one day.”
