Best resources if Alzheimer’s affects your family
Marissa Sandler is the CEO and co-founder of Careseekers. Previously a social justice lawyer and researcher for over 15 years, Marissa is passionate about helping people live with dignity and finding innovative solutions to problems.
If you or a family member has recently been diagnosed with Alzheimer’s, it’s reassuring to know you are not alone. According to Alzheimer’s Australia there are more than 353,800 Australians living with some form of dementia.
Even more positively, there has never been more information available to help you and your family adjust to living with this condition. We have compiled a list of the best resources to support you below.
Online
The Alzheimer’s Australia Website and should definitely be your first point of reference. Here you will find links to support and services in your state, downloadable fact sheets, helpful tools, videos, research papers and real life stories of others living with dementia.
Blogs
Reading about someone else’s experience in managing their dementia can be very insightful. Across the world caregivers and people have started sharing their stories. Here are a few great ones:
- Dealing with Alzheimer’s – this is a firsthand account of Kris’s experience of being diagnosed with early onset dementia at the age of 46. She is now 60 and is still able to write about her experience.
- Dealing with dementia – Kay Branford has written a blog that includes helpful tips and advice that she learned whilst caring for both her parents who experienced dementia and memory loss.
Apps
There are a number of apps being launched onto the market to help people living with dementia and those caring for people with dementia.
We have chosen to profile MindMate, a brilliant app that has thought of everything when it comes to living with dementia, for those affected and their loved ones.
The app has games that are meant to stimulate a users’ cognitive abilities. Games have been created based on world leading research.
It has a “Tools” section - which provides a helping hand to those living with early stage dementia. This includes tools to make notes, to-do lists, as well as helpful, customisable reminders.
A "Getting to know me" section is also provided – this is especially helpful when a person with dementia has to leave their home, or has to go to a hospital or care home as it provides identifiers which can be used to ensure proper treatment and contact with family members and loved ones.
The MindMate app also provides physical exercises and nutrition advice for a healthier lifestyle to stay mentally as well as physically fit.
Books
The following two books could be helpful to read as you grapple with a dementia diagnosis.
- Not Right in the Head by Michelle Wyatt - A light-hearted, heart-warming account of how one family faced Alzheimer's and how the almost comical events within the secure walls of the nursing home made them realise that humour was the only way through.
- Where the Light Gets In: Losing My Mother Only to Find Her Again by Kimberly Williams-Paisley – Where the Light Gets In is written by Hollywood actress Kimberly Williams-Paisely who tells the story of her mother’s rare form of dementia called primary progressive aphasia—from her early-onset diagnosis at the age of 62 through the present day. Kim draws a candid picture of the ways her family reacted for better and worse, and how she, her father and two siblings educated themselves, tried to let go of shame and secrecy, made mistakes, and found unexpected humour and grace in the midst of suffering.
At Careseekers we speak to people every day who are caring for loved ones with dementia, we refer them to the resources above but we are also able to lighten their load with some time off by engaging a care worker from our website. Feel free to give us a call 1300 7765 465 to find out how a care worker can support your family.
Related links:
16 things I would want, if I get dementia
A vaccine for Alzheimer’s may be on the way