With World Alzheimer’s Day coming up this Wednesday, Alzheimer’s Otago manager/kaiwhakahaere Antoinette McLean and her team are keen to help raise awareness with events across the region.
"It’s good to be finally getting back to normality, and to be able to host events again," Ms McLean.
This had included a well-received recent production of verbatim theatre piece The Keys Are in the Margarine, exploring dementia from the point of view of those living and working with it, presented by Wow! Productions and TheatreWorks.
"We had a great turnout and a fantastic question session afterwards, which really helped to raise awareness around dementia," she said.
The Move for Dementia programme encourages people to get active, doing everything from walking to zip lining, and gather sponsorship to help provide services and support to people living with dementia.
Other activities happening this month are sessions on preventing Alzheimer’s Disease and Successful Ageing, presented by Associate Professor Yoram Barak, mindfulness and yoga sessions, and more.
Local venues and landmarks, including Toitu Otago Settlers Museum, Otago Museum, and the Lookout Point flyover, are being lit up in purple to acknowledge the impact of Alzheimer’s Disease in the community.
Alzheimer’s Otago is working with a group of third-year marketing students from the University of Otago to develop a marketing campaign, and are gathering responses and personal stories from clients and carers.
"This is going to be a very interesting project, which will look at things in a very respectful manner, and will help to get the message out into the community," Ms McLean said.
The organisation is also working with a video production company, Kind of a Big Deal, to create two video advertisements to raise awareness of dementia and its impact on people’s lives.
With World Alzheimer's Day just around the corner, it was important to highlight that there were 70,000 Kiwis living with dementia today, with numbers expected to more than double by 2050.
"Because of this, we need to be constantly working towards improving and expanding our services, so we can provide people with the support they will need," she said.
Along with client support services, carer support group meetings, and community education sessions, Alzheimer’s Otago is working with Dunedin Public Libraries on a programme of dementia-friendly reading groups, which are growing in popularity.
There are now two groups at City Library, one at Mosgiel Library, and a new group at Waikouaiti Library.
