Alzheimers Otago community educator Georgia Holland spoke at a special presentation at the Owaka Library recently.
‘‘Dementia isn’t a specific condition. It describes a group of symptoms affecting memory, thinking and social abilities severely enough to interfere with daily functioning,’’ she said.
‘‘Dementia is an umbrella term, the most common types are Alzheimer’s, vascular, frontotemporal [and] Lewy body disease ... Alzheimer’s can be observed in sufferers as structurally different from a healthy brain ... [It] isn’t a normal part of ageing but as we age, our risk increases.’’
The cost of dementia to New Zealand is about $2.5billion, rates among women are about 30% higher than in men and more than one million hours of unpaid care every week is provided by care partners.
Advocates including Alzheimers New Zealand are working quickly to build effective strategies to manage the growing number of sufferers including awareness to remove negative attitudes, more streamlined diagnosis and better funded services.
Mrs Holland said most people experienced memory gaps but dementia symptoms impaired ordinary functioning more seriously, with disorientation and changes in judgement, mood and behaviour.
Dementia is a focus of medical research and technology but ordinary attention to mental and physical health are promoted to avoid risk and manage symptoms.
Alzheimers Otago can be contacted for support.
