Some of you may have heard a recent
visitor from the UK – Graham Stokes, a Neurologist. He spoke to
many groups about the huge increase world wide in dementia that is
going to happen oveer the next 40 years.
He cited many factors amongst them an
increasingly long lived population, the “Baby Boomers” population
bulge and better methods of diagnosis. It is not that rates of
incodence of the condition are increasing, just that there will be a
larger group from which people will develop the disease.
He made it very clear that this is not
a psychiatric condition but a neuorolgical condition, something that
we are not always clear about even now.
The points he made were very clear.
There will not be enough beds to cope with the level of need.
There will need to be better supports
for families and carers in the community. It will not be possible to
rely on “The Family” to automatically take on the very real
burden of care because our society is changing so much. Women tend to
marry men older than themselves and if a marriage is not providing
what they want many are now divorcing in their 50's and 60's. Second
relationships do not have the same level of establishment so if a
partner becomes ill there is not the same commitment to taking on
caring for them.
We have another change in that children
are economically dependent on their families for much longer. A
combination of student debt, economic conditions in general and a
much later date for settling down compared to previous generations.
We are already seeing calls for the
retirement age to be raised. A result from this will be that in some
cases people who might have taken on care will still be at work.
None of this paints a pretty picture
but there are things that can be done. And we need to start now
before the full force of this epidemic hits.
Dramatherapy can help both the person
diagnosed and their families and care givers. It is much easier to
cope with the memory loss if the person is not depressed withdrawn or
angry, if they communicate although not from the past. Using this
therapuetic approach benefits the individuals,and their families and
enables them to stay in their community for longer whether it be home
or the retirement village they have chosen.
We can do something that is positive in
all directions, personally, socially and economically.
But we need to act before we get
overwhelmed.
All those people who paid for the
infrastructure we have now deserve better.
Today's teenagers will not be thinking
about this yet but when they do get old – and they are likely to
live even longer, they might just be grateful for having good
standards of care well established.
