Are your family or friends living with dementia? If so, you may have questions about how to help them. Fortunately, the non-profit Alzheimer Society of B.C. has plenty of answers. And local residents can get its assistance through a pair of free tele-workshops next month.
The first, How to Speak Up About Dementia and Make Changes to the System, explains what you can do to make long-lasting social change for people with dementia and their families.
Speakers Barbara Lindsay and Rebecca Morris will provide the tools needed to advocate for a dementia strategy in B.C. - an important plan given the rapidly rising incidence rate of this pressing health issue.
"There is a role for you. Lasting change can't happen without your voice," Lindsay said.
The tele-workshop runs on Tuesday, April 1 at 7 p.m. Area residents can also get some practical tips at the second teleworkshop, entitled How to Support a Friend Who Has Dementia or is a Caregiver.
It will offer ideas for communicating with a person with dementia, for offering support and providing options on the kind of help the person with dementia, their caregiver or family might appreciate. The tele-workshop is not aimed at primary caregivers. It runs on Wednesday, April 23 at 2 p.m. Connecting to the sessions is as easy as visiting momentum.adobeconnect.com/alzheimerbc (enter as a guest) or phoning toll-free 1-866-994-7745, then entering pass code 1122333 when prompted.
For more information about other upcoming tele-workshops or to view shortened recordings of past sessions go to www.alzheimerbc.org/We-Can-Help/Telephone-Workshops.aspx For more information on Alzheimer's disease and other dementias, which affect one in 11 Canadians over the age of 65, visit the society website at www.alzheimerbc.org