"Dementia destroys lives not love"

Images at foot of page.  Header graphics do not copy and are included.

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Links have been kept to a minimum (Glos Dementia-Friendly Community  in 1).  Statistics and other text are quotations, the source of which can be added if requested.

The main stats are in 3.    I show readers how they can find out how many dementia sufferers there are in their or any GP surgery.  Also demonstrated is that their GP can be their project best friend or worst enemy.  There's a post code lottery relating to dementia-fluent GPs.  

Interesting results when  "Dementia destroys lives not love" is Googled here. 

There are many more images than those at the foot of this page.  

From No. 21, there are new context-specific images here.

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1. Our Alzheimer's Society Memory Walk on Sunday  report (Citizen, 26 Sept, pages 12 & 13), introduced readers to the DIY Dementia Meeting Centre for Your Local Community  project.  Our reporter Janet Hughes met Professor Alan F Harrison from Ross-on-Wye  who is very keen to start the DMCs in our county.  125 DMCs have been successful in Holland for many years.  That success includes the difference between daycare centres and DMCs. which is that carers participate in their loved-ones' therapy process. Delayed entry to residential care is another significant benefit.  There are many more.  Alan's DIY DMC project is now looking for host premises as the first step within it soon becoming Gloucestershire's DIY DMC project. South Glos Dementia-Friendly Community (here)  was launched in 2015 and others like it make good foundations.  Half a dozen stalwarts meeting in each others' homes can also be the start of improving local dementia care provision.
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3. The way the  improvement of local dementia services will be carried out cannot be summarised on the back of a postage stamp.  A diagnosis of dementia can be frightening for those affected by the syndrome, their carers and other family members.  Local dementia services across the UK are fragmented and carers and families can experience difficulty locating their appropriate help.  Research  conducted for Dementia UK  shows that in 2013, there were 815,830 people with dementia in the UK .  58,270 of these people with dementia were aged 65 years or over.  That is 1 in every 14.  Currently, there are more that 855,700 dementia sufferers.  An increase of 40,000 between 2013 and now.  It is estimated that by 2021, the number of people with dementia in the UK will have increased to around 1 million. That’s 1 in 3 of us aged over 65 according to information in 2014.
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5. If current trends continue and no action is taken, the number of people with dementia in the UK is forecast to increase to 1,142,6800 by 2025 and 2,092,950 by 2051, an increase of 40% over the next twelve years.   The big problem is that local dementia care services are not catching up with today's demands, never mind the future demands for the moment.
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7. With an eye on reduced costs and increased efficiency, DMCs are being introduced, given that the Dutch model works in this country.  A university research project is due to report in February 2017.  Only two DMCs have been created since the project started in the middle of 2013.  Fewer than half a dozen are in pipeline.  It can take over a year to create one.  As good as the two are, something needs to be done to accelerate the birth of many more.
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9. Many local families include members aged 65 years or over who bear the 1/14 chance of contracting dementia.  The odds shorten if there is dementia in the family history.  People are frightened of dementia,  and a lot of that fear is based on the thought of – 'What if it happens to me or my family?'  Local dementia services must improve.  The new DMCs are few even if not far between - Leominster and Droitwich.  It is not a matter of insufficient finance. The total grant for the project is for £964,000 - with the UK-based research being funded by the Economic and Social Research Council,  and the University of Worcester receiving  £322,840  for its work over the three years  from mid 2103.  These amounts do not include three staff each at both DMCs on, say, 30 hours per week.
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11. The project must succeed. Review and revision of UK present fragmented and inefficient dementia care is long overdue. Ways of improving the present over-involved procedure for creating UK DMCs must be found. Results  divided by time in motion  prove the point.  Alan and his frail wife travel from Ross to the Leominster DMC at least once a week.  It is working well. His research is based not only on the notion that the project must succeed.  He is convinced it will succeed.  The prospect of further funding is based on success.  There will be new formal DMCs but eventually and sporadically.  DIY DMCs are not pop-up ventures.  They serve the clear need for a procedure that can work without waiting for Father Time.
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13. The DIY DMCs project for Gloucestershire does not advise the powers -that-be  that it is going to do this and that.  The powers-that-be are told THAT it is doing this and that and its participants are the ones making it work on their terms.   Furthermore, they are 60% down the trail because they have found premises and an operational team of dedicated, enthusiasts with the shared purpose of providing improvements in local dementia services within a much shorter time than the two DMCs which are running now. 
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15. The DIY DMCs project for Gloucestershire is looking for host premises, ideally within three or four miles from the centre of Gloucester on the west side.  However, good accessibility and parking are important and not only within the radius suggested.  Again, ideally, there will be a room to hold two dozen people and another room for a dozen.  Sometimes the 24 participants are split into two halves - carees and carers, with different therapy and activities going on. Caree therapy is, of course,  the key  part of the process.  As a DMC-initiated concept, it is unique and innovative. DMC carer therapy, too, is DMC-unique and innovative.  The DIY DMC takes these a stage further and is an innovation within an innovation. 
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17. There may be readers who want to follow the formal route and wait their turn.  Funds are decreasingly available and it is logical that providers with the research project will close their books until results are available next year.  There may be other readers who want to take the DIY road and look to their community for a wider range of support.  Their DIY DMC, as a new star on the horizon, will attract experienced volunteers and others who want to start bringing energy and enthusiasm.  It will attract healthcare professionals with time available and those who are retired.  The paid-for services provided by individuals and small local companies specialising in music and other therapies may be offered at no cost until funding arrives, or on a first-time basis.  The two DMCs buy all their therapy equipment.  Alan shows a better way on his carerworld website.  By making a lot of the equipment themselves, the members enjoy the added therapeutic benefit of enjoying the use of their  means of slowing down the march of dementia.
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19. Alan hands the baton to Gloucestershire citizens.  He looks forward to passing on his experience and enthusiasm at any get-togethers and public meetings, the latter ideally at the new-found premises. 
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21. This has overrun the back of a postage stamp.  There is a veritable stamp album of information on the DIY DMCs project  via http://carerworld.info