For my CIP this year, I helped out at the New Horizons Dementia Day Care Center. This was an unforgettable experience as I spent time interacting with older folks. Amusingly, I found the old people outspoken and humorous - I was called a "black chicken" in Cantonese by an old man (thanks to my tan from playing tennis in the hot sun), and my classmate was called fat! I guess I got off easily.
Dementia is an illness where a person has rapid loss of memory and function as the brain cells die at a faster rate than normal. I found out that in Singapore, Alzheimer's disease is not necessarily the most common form of dementia. Vascular/Multi-infarct dementia (from micro-strokes and poor blood supply to the brain) is also very common in our population. Dementia can cause a sufferer to not only lose memories, but also to have behaviour and personality changes. I have known of some older relatives who have had a lot of emotional distress from their progressive memory loss. My great grandmother before she passed away, would go everyday to the void deck to look for my great grandfather and she had a delusion that someone had stolen his body after he passed away.
I learned that while memory is not the best in these older folk, I realised that their personalities were intact and they could still be jovial and interact well with others. I realised also that they were lonely and appreciated having company. One old lady even thought that I was her grandson and kept patting me on my head! I began to understand how important it was for these people to have regular routines and familiar environments (and even familiar friends/family members around them).
Reading up about dementia, I was surprised to find that younger people less than 65 years can also suffer from dementia, although the causes are quite different, e.g. neurodegenerative diseases, metabolic disorders, even infections like Lyme disease. Unfortunately there are no medications that actually cure dementia but may only slow down the process. Ways of treating include cognitive and behaviour interventions for the sufferers. The caregivers and family members may also need additional emotional support.
