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January is Alzheimer Awareness Month

January 18, 2018   ·   0 Comments

By Avery Park

The start of the New Year also marks the start of Alzheimer Awareness Month, and this year every one of us can help raise awareness for this cause.

For Orangeville and the surrounding communities, the Alzheimer Society of Dufferin County (ASDC) holds events to support those with Alzheimer’s and other forms of dementia.

Throughout this month, it is hoped that more people will start to talk about forms of dementia, and truly understand what it is some people are dealing with. Canadians that have a form of dementia list their #1 priority to be ending the stigma towards those affected. Everyone is affected differently, and ASDC’s mission this month is to help others understand how to make those people feel more comfortable.

Statistics given to us by ASDC say that 40% of people with dementia have said they don’t feel included in everyday life, and that once their diagnosis is received, friends and family slowly start to drift away because they don’t know how to help or react to this new situation.

“Stigma is something that affects specifically Alzheimer’s disease because nobody really wants to talk about it or admit it,” says the executive director of ASDC, Tracy Koskamp-Bergeron. “That’s one of the things we’ve really been working on.”

Starting that conversation is almost always the hardest part, but after reading people’s stories they have been kind enough to share, you will find it easier to have a conversation about how you can help. A website hoping to start those conversations, www.ilivewithdementia.ca, has plenty of stories to help others understand what it’s like for those who live with this, and for the people who care for them.

Throughout the years the number of dementia cases has been rapidly increasing, with an expected 1 million Canadian cases in less than 15 years. There are currently 564, 000 Canadians living with some form of dementia, which is affecting 1.1 million Canadians both directly and indirectly. These numbers will continue to rise, and we should all do our part to help.

To become more involved and help care for those affected by dementia, there is a website called dementiafriends.ca where you can learn a little bit more about what it’s like to live with dementia, and help people living with dementia “live well”. Two of the main causes of dementia is loneliness and age, while age can’t be helped, loneliness definitely can.

Another way to help is by participating in their current fundraiser Catch the Ace. This is a lottery raffle in which you purchase a ticket weekly for $5 and if you win, you get 20% of the profits they’ve made that week. If you do “catch the ace” you win 30% of the progressive lottery pot. It’s a win for everyone.

Anybody can help to support this cause, you can donate to ASDC or help by volunteering your time to take care of those with dementia. Everything helps when it comes to taking care of those in our community.

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