Prior to World Alzheimer’s Day on September 21, Alzheimer Nederland presents a refined National Strategy for Dementia, incorporating the lessons learned from the corona crisis. Central to this is the quality of life of the growing group of people with dementia. Alzheimer Nederland states that we should never again fall into the medical scenario of a generic lockdown, but should always consider per person what is possible and desirable. The well-being of people with dementia and their family members has been severely damaged and deserves the highest priority.
Staying active and in touch are vital in dementia
“This corona time has painfully exposed how it should never be done again. Chosen solutions were needed temporarily, but also turned out to be harmful for people with dementia ”. Gerjoke Wilmink, director of Alzheimer Nederland: “Our own organization also searched for ‘the right thing’ in the beginning. At the start of the corona crisis, we also stopped our own regular meetings in the country. Physical safety first, to stem the number of infections. But that turned out not to be a long-lasting solution. Our Alzheimer Cafés, Meeting points and Teahouses across the country are now carefully opening their doors again. And if that is not possible, we will solve it online. But this is not the same, we are well aware of that. Physical contact, closeness, staying active. It is these three things that are so important for the quality of life of people with dementia. The corona period unintentionally became a social experiment, the results of which we suspected: without contact and activities, many people with dementia deteriorate extra quickly. ”
National Strategy
Our National Strategy Dementia is now more urgent than ever. Many achievements of recent years seem to have been reversed in one fell swoop. In practice we see a return to the medical model, to the disease. The quality of life has deteriorated sharply due to the corona virus. Daytime activities were discontinued, care at home was reduced and nursing homes were subject to a complete visitor stop. The people in nursing homes missed their visitors, daily activities and the outdoors. At the moment, many people with dementia are still at home without a daytime activity, their informal carers are overburdened. Corona will stay with us for a while and a second wave is not unlikely. That means that we now have to come up with sustainable solutions. Alzheimer Nederland has established that the well-being of people with dementia and their informal carers must again be at the top of the priority list in dementia care.
We share our strategic spearheads with the broad field of dementia, healthcare and politics and aim to:
- that the support and care for people at home is more in line with what people with dementia and their informal carers want and need themselves;
- improving the participation (longer participation) of people with dementia in society;
- improving the resilience and persistence time of informal carers;
- improvement of the quality of life of residents in nursing homes through personal agreements (what does this person want, what does he / she need).
Importance of staying active / meaningful activities
Alzheimer Nederland participated in the SBS program Restaurant Misverstand that is currently on TV. A program in which nine people with dementia show how they enjoy working actively in a restaurant. And which shows that more is really possible than you think in advance with dementia. Wilmink: “It was a hard blow that we were confronted with the corona era immediately after the shooting of this series. It underscores our message all the more, most people with dementia (about 200,000) still live at home and daytime activities are of great importance to both them and their carers. “
Although most organizations now offer some alternatives, the daytime activities are still far from the old level. A recent poll by Alzheimer Nederland among informal carers shows that 40% of people with dementia currently do not have any form of daytime activities. The poll also shows that 96% of the respondents consider daytime activities to be very important to support living at home with dementia.
The corona period unintentionally became a social experiment, the results of which we already suspected: without contact and activities, many people with dementia deteriorate extra quickly.
The disappearance of daytime activities therefore has a great impact on informal carers. A few quotes from our poll:
- “I took full care of my father myself, day and night”
- “My husband collapsed completely, and so did I. He was then admitted with an IBS ”.
- “Mother has deteriorated significantly in the corona time. It was very difficult for my father and us (three daughters) to provide care ”
- Because of corona, my mother only gets 2.5 hours of daytime activities instead of 6.5 hours, which means that my sisters and I have to take care of this.
> Read the full National Strategy for Dementia here
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