What is Dementia?
Dementia is a word used to describe a collection of conditions affecting the brain’s function. The impairments in brain function are significant enough to affect how a person functions in everyday life. Symptoms associated with dementia are broad and include memory loss, misplacing objects, poor judgement, withdrawal from usual activities, difficulty with speech, challenges in completing everyday tasks and changes in behaviour or personality. Dementia affects each individual differently and not all symptoms are present in every individual. Symptoms typically commence slowly and gradually progress over time, typically years.
Age is the strongest known risk factor for dementia, with the majority of cases occurring in people over the age of 65. However, it is important to note that as people age, developing dementia does not always occur, with many older people having normal cognition. Dementia can occasionally be hereditary, but this is typically rare.
Your medical practitioner or healthcare provider can assist if you or your family are concerned about dementia. They will typically ask about symptoms, other health issues and medications. Tests of memory, attention and other cognitive skills will be performed in addition to a physical examination, blood tests and brain scan. This assessment will assist in determining if dementia is present and what the possible disease causing it is. Other conditions or their treatments can mimic dementia and identifying and treating these conditions is an important part of this assessment.
One of the common questions people ask is how is dementia different to Alzheimer’s disease? Dementia describes the collection of symptoms that we see including impairment in memory and other brain functions. Dementia is caused by well over 100 different diseases. Alzheimer’s disease is the most common disease causing dementia, accounting for over half of dementia cases. There are many other conditions that can cause dementia including vascular dementia, dementia with Lewy bodies and frontotemporal dementia. Unfortunately dementia is progressive and there is no known cure although very active international research looking for effective treatments continues.
For more information about dementia see Dementia Australia https://www.dementia.org.au/
Services
My Aged Care is the entry point for access to Commonwealth funded aged care services. These services are open to people over 65yrs of age or over 50yrs if of Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander background. These services might be supports to help you safely stay in your own home such as meals, help with cleaning or changes to your home or exercises to reduce the chance of a fall. You can also access residential aged care facilities through this process, if you are unable to remain in your own home.
To access any of these services, you will need to have an assessment – which involves a visit to your home where you will be asked about how you manage different daily tasks. This will help the assessor understand what is important to you as you age, what supports you already have in place (such as family and friends) and work out how much support could help you to live safely as you wish to. Your assessor will assist you in accessing the services you are approved for. You might find that your needs and preferences change over time. You can talk about this with any services you have in place to see if they can be changed to meet what you need, or you may need a new assessment to get some more supports.
You can call My Aged Care on 1800 200 422 (Monday-Friday 8am-8pm, Saturdays 10am-2pm) or visit the website at www.myagedcare.gov.au to find out more information about assessments and the services available.
Support for Carers
Are you a family carer for someone with dementia? If so, you might like to know about the various organisations and services that are available to you that can help you cope with some of the ups and downs along the way.
- The Carer Gateway (carergateway.gov.au) can provide emotional, practical and financial help for carers including emergency respite should something happen to prevent you from continuing in your caring role.
- Dementia Australia (https://www.dementia.org.au/support/family-and-carers) is another organisation that provides education and support for people with dementia and their carers. They host the Dementia Helpline (ph 1800 100 500) and have counsellors available to help you navigate the emotional side of caring for someone with dementia.
- The Aged Health, Chronic Care and Rehabilitation Service (https://www.slhd.nsw.gov.au/acrs/) consists of a multidisciplinary team including geriatricians, nurses and allied health therapists to provide diagnosis and support for people with dementia. The service also encompasses a Dementia Counselling and Support program which can assist carers in gaining information and understanding about dementia while linking them with other local services which can help them in their caring role. The program also facilitates a Male Carers’ group for men who are caring for a partner, parent or other relative with dementia.
- Sydney Local Health District also provides a range of support services for carers. The Dementia Support Service, accessed via My Aged Care (myagedcare.gov.au), provides flexible respite to allow carers to take a break for a few hours while a skilled support worker spends time with the person with dementia.
Caring for someone with dementia can be isolating and it’s sometimes difficult to know where to turn to for support. Making contact with any of the above organisations can be a good first step to ensure that you have access to those programs and services that can assist you in coping both now and in the future.
Translated Resources
All information provided by Sydney Local Health District, Aged Health, Chronic Care & Rehabilitation Service.