Push for community care for dementia epidemic

Push for community care for dementia epidemic

While Health Minister Tony Ryall’s comments last week about being unprepared for dementia are a step in the right direction, emphasis on supporting at-home carers as well as the residential care sector is necessary to cope with the dementia epidemic.

Alzheimer’s Disease International’s World Alzheimer Report 2010 says the worldwide cost of dementia will be USD 600 billion by 2050, while Alzheimers New Zealand estimates the disease will cost NZD 1 billion and impact 146,000 New Zealanders in the same year.

According to Alzheimers New Zealand’s Dementia Economic Impact Report 2008, 50 per cent of people with dementia are cared for in their homes. There are 43,000 people in New Zealand with dementia currently, projected to rise to over 146,000 by 2050.

The National Dementia Strategy, presented to Hon Tony Ryall in Parliament in May this year, pushes for increased funding toward appropriate support for at-home carers, in order for them to continue caring for their loved one at home as long as possible. This support includes information, education and in-home training.

Alzheimers New Zealand’s national director Johan Vos says in most cases, as long as support is in place, people with dementia want to live at home.

“Appropriate community support means better quality of life for people with dementia and their carers, who often face poor physical health and depression as a result of full-time caring, with little respite. If informal carers are not supported appropriately, downstream costs to the health system will be significant. A simple analysis made for our Dementia Economic Impact Report says delaying the entry of people with dementia into residential care by three months saves NZD 62 million.”

Alzheimers New Zealand also advocates for the continued implementation of the Carers Strategy, which aims to improve financial support and education for informal carers in order to meet the challenges of providing care in future.

A carer’s story

Crenia Sorensen, 75, from Stratford, Taranaki, says by keeping herself healthy and being patient, she is able to manage the care of her husband Haldor, 81, who was diagnosed with dementia eight years ago.

She believes carers need to be assessed more thoroughly by their district health board in order to access appropriate support and respite care. “It would be nice if (the DHB) had more contact with us. You feel as if you are floundering. It can feel it really lonely. As a full time carer, I can get very tired and I have to be home all the time. There’s also a lack of companionship – he’s not the same person anymore.”

Crenia says she would consider moving her husband to a residential care facility if she was unable to care for him at home, but would not like it if he was not around.

“We‘ve been in same house for 55 years. Everything is familiar. I think it would be dramatic for him to leave and I wouldn’t like him to have to go into residential care. If he couldn’t manage, I would have to, but I am lucky in that way. There needs to be a better understanding of conditions for carers. I don’t think the public realise it can be like looking after a child. You are not free anymore.”

ENDS

© Scoop Media