Dementia Care: An Evidence Based Textbook PDF

Foreword

It is a pleasure to write a piece for the start of this book, a book for those who are trying to support people in our position. We live at home, and about two years ago Robbie was diagnosed as having memory problems. In fact, he recognized that what was wrong could be related to his memory problem by reading a small article in a holiday magazine for older people. He rang our GP and pushed to be seen. Now Robbie is on anti-dementia drugs, and we are managing.

How would we like professionals to be? We would like them to be encouraging, and we would like them to give both of us information (which doesn't always happen). We appreciate it that if we need to see our community mental health nurse, we can telephone her and she will come to see us. And we do welcome people who are kind and helpful, not just those who work with memory problems, but all those who help with other difficulties.

When nurses and doctors carry out tests, it makes a difference if they do this in a certain way: it is best if they see the positives and don't keep emphasizing the mistakes or failures that are going on in one's head. We like it if people have a sense of humour, but that doesn't mean that we don't have bad days when we get cross with ourselves and each other. We like it if people are predictable and reliable: it helps, for example, to get letters about appointments. We would like, too, to be able to talk more to other people in our position.

There are some things that could be better, of course. We were very sad at the state of the hospital when one of us broke a bone. And we found we were booked for an assessment of an aspect of the condition when the drugs to treat it had already been started. And, as we have said before, putting us in touch with other people would be good.

We are able to share many good things from the past and still enjoy going out – bowling and on holiday. That doesn't mean we have forgotten the terrible things, the war in particular, but we are able to talk about the many good times of the past and to enjoy the present.

We know people are very rushed, but our final point is that we do value those who have time to listen to us and give us good advice, who are kind and pleasant.

We hope this book will equip people to support those in our position, both now and in the future. Our best wishes to you.