Monthly Archives: November 2012

Cameron's dementia campaign will be a missed opportunity

November 9, 2012   Alzheimer’s, Carers, dementia

Unless the Dementia Friends initiative incorporates the Special method, a lot of money and good intentions will go to waste

 

Elderly Germans who have Alzheimer’s disease dance at a community centre in Berlin.

Yesterday’s announcement of a national campaign to increase understanding and awareness of Alzheimer’s could have been very good news. There will be £2.4m of government money given to the Alzheimer’s Society (AS), initially to train 6,000 Dementia Friend volunteers. It is hoped that they, in turn, will go back to their communities and create 1 million people in the population with greater awareness – “dementia friends”.

Alas, this is going to be a case of a wonderful opportunity missed. The core problem with Alzheimer’s and most dementia cases is that the person is no longer storing short-term memories. By the time they receive medical care, the vast majority are already in the mid or even late stage of the illness. Frequently they cannot recall what happened from more than 30 seconds ago. However, there is very solid evidence from brain imaging studies that their long-term memory is nearly always fully, or largely, intact.

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Would the integration of health and social care promote independent living?

November 8, 2012   Carers, disability, DOH, Independent living

Medical intervention is appropriate for people who are sick, but not normally for people who are well – whether they are disabled or not

 

Independent living depends on the availability of funds and other resources, including peer support from disabled people’s organisations, to enable disabled people to participate in society as equal.

Norman Lamb has been the care services minister at the Department of Health for just a few weeks, and it seems that the integration of health and social care services is one of his key interests and policy aims.

But there appears to be scant consideration, by Norman Lamb, Dan Poulter or indeed the health secretary, Jeremy Hunt, of whether such integration would actually deliver independent living for working age disabled adults – or, for that matter, for older disabled adults.

The pioneers of independent living, back in the 1970s and 80s, did not consider independent living support to have much in common with health services.

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The True Story Of A Man Who Lived With The 10-year Terminal Illness Of His Wife

November 8, 2012   Alzheimer’s, dementia

Guest Blog – Max Emmenegge

WILL YOU TELL HER, OR SHALL I?

The True Story Of A Man Who Lived With The 10-year Terminal Illness Of His Wife

An Autobiography

My wife Liz had a massive seizure one evening when we were dressing to go out to dinner with friends in Orlando, Florida. The title of my book derives from the question a doctor posed when a CAT Scan revealed a tumour the size of a tennis ball on her meninges. I was barely able to take it in. He took my arm. “Come on, we’ll tell her together.”

Her tumour was, fortunately, benign. It was removed at the Orlando Regional Medical Center a week later. When she was well enough, I brought her home to England to be near the family. I brought her MRI scans with me. She was 53. The year was 1993.

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