Living Well With Dementia
Creating Dementia Friendly Communities
September 2015
Living Well With Dementia
The world of today and tomorrow:
• Incidence of dementia increasing
• Awareness of dementia increasing
• Understanding of people living with dementia and
their care partners, is increasing
Time for change!
People with dementia want a voice!
See me not my disease!
I’m still me!
• Dyan says …
People with dementia and their
families are telling us they want:
• Increased social participation
• Respect and social inclusion
• Civic participation and employment
• Supportive outdoors and public spaces
People with dementia and their
families are telling us they want:
• Choices in where to live
• Confidence in engaging in the community
• Full and equal membership, participation, power,
determination and leadership as an older person
The Bobcaygeon Experience
Client Advisory Committee
The Blue Umbrella
Program Focus Areas
• Personal
Identifiers
• Community
Identifier
• Public Exposure
changing the
face of dementia
• Public Training
• Training
Package with
tools
Identify
Educate
Redefine
Promote
Awareness
• Advertising
Campaign
• Posters/ Flyers
• Media
Staff and Volunteers Together
“Walk-abouts”
Education Sessions
Identifiers
Secret Shoppers
Business response
Bobcaygeon’s Success
• Small rural town, 3000 permanent residents
• 50+ businesses educated
• 50+ people with dementia wearing the identifier
Bobcaygeon’s Success:
• Reports of improved customer services
• Businesses and services want to know more
• Service providers want to enhance for their own
unique needs
Across the province:
• 5 Local Societies now piloting Blue Umbrella
• Evaluation to support more roll-out
• Creation of education models for unique business
and service groups
In the mean time …
Join the movement. Sign up today!
www.dementiafriends.ca
Or email us to find out more at
info@dementiafriends.ca
Sam Roberts
Caroline Cameron
David Hearn
Addition of “living well” programs
Addition of “living well” programs
Addition of “living well” programs
Taking Control of Our Lives:
A self-management program for people living with dementia
Addition of “living well” programs
• Unique activities in numerous Local Alzheimer
Societies
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IPOD music program
Art activities
Choirs
Garden care
Exercise Programs
Intergenerational activities
Workplace education
• Designing modules for customer/client-facing staff
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Retail businesses and service providers
Emergency responders
Retirement home staff
Financial institutions
Legal institutions
Municipal leaders
Community housing workers
Employers of people with dementia
Employees recently diagnosed with dementia
Dementia as a disability
• What does “disease” mean to us?
• What would change if we used “disability” language?
• What does history show us?
Dementia as a disability
• Accommodation – people with dementia will be able
to work and volunteer longer with their disability
• Accessibility – workplaces will learn about, and make
changes, to practices, policies and designs
Internal to Alzheimer Society
• Adding a dementia lens to age-friendly community
work
• Engaging with people with dementia in an inclusive
way
Dementia Friendly Communities
• Developing a framework for a model that will bring
collective impact
• Multiple stakeholders focused through one model,
with many different activities and outcomes, but one
common vision
Getting there:
• Engagement with people with dementia and their
care partners to determine a desired state
• Desired state is the common vision
• The common vision helps define DFC
Getting There:
• Guiding Principles to support the definition
• Building Blocks are the practical components
• Focus Areas are where multiple stakeholders align
their activities
• Levels of Commitment allows for individuals, entities
and communities to take action
Getting There:
• Overall Goals keep broad focus
• Objectives keep collective focused
• Outputs and Outcomes keep collective on track, and
allow for measurement
• Communication key to shared measurements and
accountability
Entity
Activities
DFC
Model
Entity
Activities
Entity
Activities
Primary
and
Secondary
Outcomes
Common
and
Unique
Collective
Impact
One
Shared
Vision
At the end of the day,
people living with dementia will:
• Be more actively engaged outside of their home
• Feel safer in their community
• Enjoy where they live
• Continue to maintain personal interests and activities
At the end of the day,
people living with dementia will:
• Be recognized as valuable contributors to their
communities
• Live longer in the home of their choice
• Experience less stigma
And even more so …
• Feel empowered, have higher aspirations
• Maintain a higher level of independence and control
• Experience personalized and integrated care as the
norm
Keep in touch!
David Webster, Program Manager
Alzheimer Society of Ontario
dwebster@alzheimeront.org
Thank you!