4 minute read
Leading the way towards a dementia-friendly Australia
SUPPORT. ENCOURAGE. EMPOWER.
Dementia Australia’s award-winning Dementia-Friendly Communities program is playing an important role in empowering and supporting individuals and communities to undertake initiatives to improve knowledge and awareness about dementia, reduce stigma and discrimination, and promote social engagement.
A dementia-friendly community can be defined as a community of any size and scale where people with dementia are understood, respected and supported. The concept has been embraced and developed on a global scale over the last decade.
Around 70 per cent of people with a diagnosis of dementia in Australia live in the community. Communities play a critical role in encouraging inclusivity, respecting the rights of people with dementia and facilitating access to the services, supports, activities and spaces to which every Australian citizen is entitled.
People living with dementia who are supported to live well in the community are more likely to stay in their homes longer and are less likely to enter residential aged care prematurely. For people with dementia in residential aged care and other forms of supported accommodation, remaining connected to their communities within and beyond their care settings is vital for their physical and emotional wellbeing. Dementia Advocate John Quinn with a Brisbane City Council representative. Dementia Australia’s Dementia-Friendly Communities program supports alliances, organisations and initiatives in every state and territory. There are currently: • Over 35,000 Dementia Friends • 56 alliances • 64 Dementia-Friendly Organisations • Nearly 150 Dementia Friends hosts and 25 on the waiting list • Nearly 40 Community Engagement Program projects
In addition to the clear health benefits, keeping people with dementia and their care partners living in a community committed to dementia-friendly businesses and other services can make a significant contribution to the local and national economy.
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Given the demonstrable success of the program, Dementia Australia recently released a discussion paper calling on the Australian Government and the opposition political parties to commit to recurring funding to ensure the growth, development and sustainability of current and future Dementia-Friendly Communities initiatives. These discussions are in progress and we are confident of a positive outcome.
The program’s success is based on the central role that people living with dementia play in all program tiers, from the establishment of alliances and development of action plans, through to awareness raising activities and implementation of grassroots dementia–friendly change initiatives.
One of these success stories is the Brisbane South-East Dementia Alliance, founded by John Quinn and Glenys Petrie in Queensland. The Alliance has gone from hosting the first of their popular dementia forums in 2019, to today working with Brisbane City Council and major cultural institutions to inspire them to become dementia-friendly. In an exciting recent development, Brisbane City Council, Queensland Art Gallery and Gallery of Modern Art, Iona College, and University of Queensland’s Healthy Living Centre and Art Museum have made a combined commitment to a dementia-friendly Brisbane strategy, aligning with the Brisbane 2032 Olympic and Paralympic Games.
The increasingly active dementia-friendly movement in Australia continues to be driven primarily by the rigorously developed and successfully implemented Dementia-Friendly Communities program.
The program team is committed to continue to work towards an inclusive community, because a community that is dementia-friendly is simply a community that is good for everyone.
Take the first step towards creating a dementia-friendly community by signing up as a Dementia Friend and exploring the variety of engagement opportunities for individuals, community groups and businesses.
Maree McCabe AM is CEO, Dementia Australia. For more information visit www.dementiafriendly.org.au
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