The City of New Westminster is striving to be a dementia-friendly community.
The city has created a work plan aimed at raising awareness about the increasing prevalence of dementia, identifying practices that will contribute to a dementia-friendly community and providing evidence in support of lobbying senior levels of government for a comprehensive, fully funded dementia plan. A staff report states there are about 900 people living with dementia in New Westminster but this is projected to double by 2034.
“Research indicates that about half the people with dementia live in the community,” stated the staff report. “For these people and their caregivers, public attitudes can impact the ability to engage with and contribute to the community. The built environment can also impact the ability to access, negotiate and utilize their surrounding and live independently.”
Coun. Bill Harper said the city has been working on this initiative through the seniors advisory committee and Century House. He said people often shy away from those with dementia and avoid visiting them, and these people are often discriminated against.
“Those people can slip through the cracks,” he said. “Their lives become a living hell because they live in isolation.”
The city’s goal is to encourage an age-friendly community that optimizes health, participation and security opportunities to enhance the quality of life as people age.
Coun. Lorrie Williams said the more the issue is brought out in the community, the better off everyone is as it helps remove the stigma associated with dementia.
According to the staff report, dementia is identified as a progressive deterioration of cognitive abilities, including memory, judgment, motor coordination, perception and verbal ability.
The work plan includes recommendations that the city establish a dementia-friendly community working group, conduct research on dementia-friendly communities and identify promising practices for New Westminster, and conduct focus groups with people with dementia, their caregiver and family members and health-care professionals.
“The proposed work plan will raise awareness about the increasing prevalence of dementia and provide links to reputable sources of information, which will hopefully contribute to earlier diagnosis and treatment,” said the report. “It will also inform public attitudes and identify promising practices related to the built environment, which will hopefully enable people with dementia to be more engaged and involved in their community. Additionally, it will facilitate greater independence.”
The city will also create a dementia-friendly community profile for New Westminster that includes information about the number of seniors aged 65 and up in the city and by neighbourhood, the number and percentage of people with dementia, the number and percentage of people with dementia living in the community and the projected number of seniors and people with dementia to 2034.
Coun. Betty McIntosh suggested the age be lowered from 65, as dementia begins when people are younger than that.
“It’s something that is so prevalent in our community,” she said. “People do become isolated. Their families require a lot of support. Often that support is not there.”
