Alzheimers Society

On February 12^th, we were treated to an excellent talk on Dementia by Hazel Tengku Chik Melewar from The Alzheimer’s Society. Hazel is a practising Dementia Advisor who is also a busy speaker fulfilling the society’s mission to educate communities about Dementia, and how to recognise, interact with and help dementia sufferers.

Hazel explained the many disease types which cause Dementia, noting that dementia should not be confused with the natural issues associated with ageing. She differentiated between the effects of the disease on Factual Memory and Emotional Memory and covered how sufferers can ” fill in the gaps” when factual memory fails them and explained how “time-shifting” and “hallucinating “can occur.

Caring for Dementia sufferers can be a very complex task, with advice being to “join in their reality”, and “try not to contradict” in order to keep sufferers in as happy a mood as possible.

In discussion it was evident that many members recognised the issues raised from their own experience, and all left with a better understanding of the disease, and with tips to help them in interacting with sufferers.

This was a compelling and enlightening talk, delivered outstandingly well, and after a Q&A session members showed their strong appreciation.

AJSF