Living Well with Dementia

Summary

City of Melville has the second highest number of people living with dementia compared to other cities in Western Australia (WA). With 70% of people with dementia live independently rather than in residential care and 30% of that group live alone.

Working closely with Alzheimer’s Western Australia (AWA), local businesses, community groups and most importantly local residents who live with dementia, officers from the City facilitated a number of resources and activities to support people to live well with this condition, while challenging stigma and lack of awareness in the wider community.

View the City’s website for video interviews with residents who live with dementia and other partners which clearly demonstrate the valuable contribution these individuals and families make to our community and at the same time acknowledges their challenges.

The Memory Café is a successful social gathering where people living with dementia can safely and comfortably interact and share their experiences.

There is a program known as Art & Soul, classical music is performed by musicians as background to artwork being crated with the support of an art therapist and volunteers. Also specialised art gallery guided tours are popular and a community event – LoveFest 2018 was held earlier this year. It included a photographic exhibition and symposium where people living with dementia and their families could express themselves in a letter, photo, dance or presentation.

Website: https://www.melvillecity.com.au/our-community/age-friendly-melville/living-well-with-dementia

Key facts

Main target group: Older people in general

Other target group(s): local businesses; aged care providers; GPs; carers of people living with dementia

Sector(s): Education, Health, Information and communication, Social protection

Desired outcome for older people:
Build and maintain relationships

Other issues the Age-friendly practice aims to address:

Accessibility
Ageing in place
Dementia
Elder abuse
Inclusion
Participation

Contact details

Name: Deena Lazzari

Email address: Naomi.Christensen@melville.wa.gov.au

Age-friendly practice in detail (click to expand):

Engaging the wider community

Project lead: Local authorities

Others involved in the project:

Civil Society Organisation
Social or health care provider
Volunteers
Private sector

How collaboration worked: Collaboration with local business provided opportunities to raise awareness and they contributed the costs for marketing, branding and promotion.

Older people’s involvement: Older people helped to implement the age-friendly practice

Details on older people’s involvement: Older people initiated the original ideas and their input was critical to the success of the projects at every stage. Older volunteers are also involved in the implementation and ongoing operation of the initiatives. Changes have been made to the original design once initiatives were established in response to older people’s feedback.

Moving forward

Has the impact of this age-friendly practice been analysed: No

Do you plan to evaluate your age-friendly practice? Yes

Feedback:
The video interviews that are found on the website link include positive feedback about the initiatives from those involved in the design, participants, local business and volunteers.

Expansion plans:
Yes, we will look for other partners and opportunities to offer a memory café in other parts of our city. We are also looking at hosting a Lovefest Perth in 2020 in conjunction with a visit from Michael Verde from the US.

Looking back

Reflections:
Welcoming newcomers to the Memory Café is critical and requires a dedicated resource, if we had realised just how critical this role is we would have sought funding for a resource to be able to do this rather than rely on volunteers who are sometimes not available.

Challenges:
Noise within the busy café can be a challenge for people with dementia. There is a spill over space into the larger mall area that is quieter and at times when it is evident that the noise is disturbing for participants we spread out into the larger mall area to ensure their comfort.