Kyabram medico, Dr Caroline Shipley, was among the keynote speakers at Kyabram Community Learning Centre’s Dementia Forum last week, offering advice on diagnosis and family support.
Kyabram Community and Learning Centre, the driving force behind the newly-formed Dementia Voices Alliance—an initiative that unites Kyabram District Health Service with prominent community leaders—recently hosted the insightful Understanding Dementia Community Forum.
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Claire Perrella, who worked side by side with KC&LC chief executive officer Jen Savage to organise the event, said she had been “pretty overwhelmed” by the response.
“Two years ago we held a meeting with a small group of people wanting to promote the support mechanisms that were available to people living with dementia, along with their carers.
“Since then it has evolved organically, and now we have the Dementia Voices Alliance that meets every month,” she said.
Kyabram’s Don’t Demention It group has been built on the back of KCLC’s commitment to furthering the idea initailly driven by tireless dementia awareness campaigner Mick Simpson.
He sat proudly among more than 80 passionate people directly impacted by dementia and the professionals who stood at the front of the room to provide more information on what support mechanisms were available.
Mrs Perrella said events like this were not common, and having so many services in the same room for an event was also a coup for the group.
“Initially, they wanted a geriatrician to speak at the event. As it turned out we had representatives from Echuca Reigonal Health and the Virtual Memory Clinic, along with Services Australia, Murray Primary Healthcare Network, Elders Rights Advocacy, Dementia Australia, GV Hospice and even one of our own doctors,” she said.
Lifelong Kyabram resident Melitta Zobec works with Elders Rights Victoria and offered an insight into the assistance the organisation can provide to people suffering from dementia.
And people voted with their feet, with people in the room from Nagambie, Shepparton, Echuca-Moama, Bendigo and Kialla.
“We didn’t advertise heavily because the interest was strong, which reinforces the need for this forum,” she said.
Kyabram medico, Dr Caroline Shipley spoke alongside another Kyabram-based professional Melitta Zobec and the group had the backing of both the KDHS and Campaspe Shire.
Mrs Perrella said the event provided another launching pad to improve services in the dementia space into the future.
“We are regularly applying for grants and raising money to support the work of the Alliance,” she said.
The focus of the event was to connect people to services, and the information provided by the health professionals at the event achieved that goal.
Dr Caroline Shipley addressed the concerns of the people living with dementia and carers following a diagnosis.
“Many people are worried about their autonomy and independence, having the ability to make decisions for themselves taken away, ” Dr Shipley said.
“Having family that can help with financial, medical and everyday life decisions, in the best interest of the dementia patient, is important.”
Dr Shipley offered advice on difficult scenarios, including patients who were in denial and the complex nature of diagnosing people with dementia.
“Dementia is not one thing, it is a spectrum of various disorders. It makes screening tools fallible because they generally focus on one scenario,” she said.
Kyabram based Elders Rights Victoria professional Melitta Zobec said the role of her organisation was to help senior people navigate the complex situations that face them, support and access to dementia services among them.
The mother of three, who is the daughter-in-law of Campaspe Shire Councillor John Zobec, grew up in Kyabram and Tongala.
She said having the ability to service country Victorians was a major benefit of the service.
“One size does not fit all in aged care services and what may work in metro areas certainly doesn’t fit the country regions,” she said.
Anyone interested in gaining more information about the Dementia Voices Alliance, the Don’t Demention It group or anything else in this space can contact KCLC on 5852 0000 or by emailing dementiavoices@kclc.com.au
