Ex-South African tri-athlete Isabel de Villiers, participated in a gruelling 750m swim in a very choppy sea, 20km cycle through the local reserve and finally a 5km run along the beach boardwalk at Seaford Beach in the UK – all in the name of Dementia South Africa.

She and her friend Caroline who raised money for her charity of choice, Cancer Research as her mom passed away from Cancer, participated together – and they were a great team!   They were the “Teamwondermoms” – we are sincerely thankful for your extreme efforts and for selecting DementiaSA as your charity Isabel!   The funds raised will go to our virtual support which currently hosts and supports 151 families living on four continents around the globe and our local community education and awareness efforts!

Let us know if you are interested in participating in an event to raise funds for DementiaSA please – we would be very grateful!

In celebration of Alzheimer’s awareness month, DementiaSA, the leading Alzheimer’s and dementia organisation in South Africa, presents an empowering and exciting series of webinars.

Every Tuesday from 12h00 – 13h00 SAST, you can join our Zoom webinar and hear from leading experts on the topic of various dementia issues.

1 September 2020: Sr Madelein Duvenhage
Registered nurse and independent consultant in the Health and Nursing Industries

8 September: Robyn Black
Occupational Therapist specialising in functional difficulties experienced by adults and older people

15 September: Prof Felix Potocnik
Psychiatric Geriatrician and member the South African society of Psychiatrists

22 September: Dr Julie Etlin
A GP with older persons / dementia focus

29 September: Prof Daniel Niehaus
Psychiatric Geriatrician

To join, email info@dementiasa.org you can also submit your questions for speakers via email in advance.

To support a family in need with a contribution towards data costs to attend the webinar series, please Snapscan your donations here:

DementiaSA holds weekly virtual support groups

During lockdown, our support groups were unable to go ahead as usual. We envision that this situation will remain the same for quite some time, especially as many of our attendees are in the high risk group for COVID-19. With this in mind, and also the mounting pressures of the pandemic, we wanted to offer support in a different form.

We are holding weekly virtual support groups on the Zoom platform. These are one hour in length and provide a non-judgement safe space to share your issues that are dementia-related.

Attendance is free! Just email us at info@dementiasa.org to join us.

Looking forward to seeing you in a support group soon!

The CDC has recently (8 April 2020) changed its recommendation regarding the use of face cloth coverings, especially in areas of significant community-based transmission.

Says the CDC:

We now know from recent studies that a significant portion of individuals with coronavirus lack symptoms (“asymptomatic”) and that even those who eventually develop symptoms (“pre-symptomatic”) can transmit the virus to others before showing symptoms.  This means that the virus can spread between people interacting in close proximity—for example, speaking, coughing, or sneezing—even if those people are not exhibiting symptoms.  In light of this new evidence, CDC recommends wearing cloth face coverings in public settings where other social distancing measures are difficult to maintain (e.g., grocery stores and pharmacies) especially in areas of significant community-based transmission.

It is critical to emphasize that maintaining 6-feet social distancing remains important to slowing the spread of the virus.  CDC is additionally advising the use of simple cloth face coverings to slow the spread of the virus and help people who may have the virus and do not know it from transmitting it to others.  Cloth face coverings fashioned from household items or made at home from common materials at low cost can be used as an additional, voluntary public health measure.

These cloth face covering are not recommended as surgical masks or for use by care-givers or health care providers in a clinical setting, but rather for use by the general public in general public settings. This also does not supercede the South Africa government’s corona virus guidelines in any way. You can find all of the government guidelines here.

Here are some links to videos and tutorials for you to make your own masks:

No sew Cloth mask:

No sew T-shirt mask:

No sew tissue paper mask:

While we’re in this global pandemic #Covid19 and social distancing here’s how you can protect yourself and loved ones with this 2 minutes informative video!#socialsolidarity pic.twitter.com/7QuTcIimx0

— Ndifuna Ukwazi (@NdifunaUkwazi) March 20, 2020

No sew pantyhose mask:

There are also 3 pdf’s available to download, for various sewing versions of the masks.

• COVID-19 Face Mask Instructions and Pattern
• Face Mask Guide
• Mask Map Pleats

As the Covid-19 pandemic spreads around the world, it is clear that people living with NCDs (also known as chronic diseases) are at a higher risk of becoming severely ill.

These include people living with cardiovascular diseases, diabetes, respiratory diseases, dementia, kidney disease and cancer. (For information on cancer visit Cansa.)

Older people, especially living with dementia, may become more anxious, frustrated, stressed, agitated, and withdrawn during the outbreak and it is easy to become overwhelmed with the scale and frequency of news updates. For those in quarantine these difficulties may be even more harsh.

People living with dementia with family may have limited access to accurate information and facts about Covid-19. They might have difficulties in remembering safeguard procedures, such as wearing masks, or understanding the public health information issued to them. Ignoring the warnings and lacking sufficient self-quarantine measures could expose them to a higher chance of infection.

Most local authorities have prevented visitors to residential care facilities. Loved ones and people living with dementia in care facilities have lost face-to-face contact. To ease the feeling of social isolation, it’s a good idea for group activities to still take place in care facilities, but in a new format. The use of technology, to provide virtual contact with family members and loved ones, helps to ease the loneliness and anxiety on both sides of the screen.

The importance of carers in this time cannot be over-stressed. Carers need to maintain strict hygiene but also monitor themselves closely for symptoms of Covid-19 and be vigilant of their own health.

It is important that care staff keep the environment calm and reassuring. The attitude and approach of any and every carer needs to reflect a calm and considerate disposition. If the carers themselves are uptight and anxious, this will be picked up from their body language and tone of voice. Thus, monitoring the mental health burden of carers at this difficult time is also important.

DementiaSA is able to assist with social worker intervention and counselling to both carers and families remotely – please call us on 0860 636 679 email us at info@dementiasa.org to set up what kind of assistance you need.

One of our volunteers, Fred Roffey, is a resident at the Helen Keller Retirement Centre and wrote us this touching message during lock down.

 

Subject: Happy Easter!

Dear Karen & All Other Good People at DementiaSA

I do hope you and your families are all well. I am managing to survive at Helen Keller Retirement Centre, where we have been locked down well in advance of the national lockdown.

There are now a few signs that bartering may be on the cards here, as one lady – an avid knitter – has offered residents some toilet rolls in exchange for a particular colour of wool.

Otherwise, our retirement centre is well organised, with the catering and restaurant staff wearing white face masks and gloves while serving. Also, they are being allowed to sleep in because of taxi difficulties while getting to work.

We are all trained to sanitize our hands at mealtimes, and at other times. The dining-room table arrangements have been changed. There used to be six at each table – one at each end and with four inbetween. Now it is more like a hotel, with two at a table opposite each other. This allows for social distancing between each table.

We are in total lockdown because of the number of elderly people in the centre, and as you know they are the most vulnerable. The restrictions mean no visitors and not being able to leave the centre by foot or car.

Son Marc and Leesha, who also live in Pinelands, deliver goods when I need them. They leave them with the guard at the front entrance gate, where the goods are sanitized. I manage to speak to them through the bars at the gate.They phone regularly and use Skype now and again. Marc and Leesha and her sister Sanchiya continue to work at their various hospitals in Cape Town.

So in one way and another we all manage to keep in touch, as we are doing now.

My love and best wishes to you all for a happy Easter and after

Fred Roffey

(I miss Coffey with Roffey and friends at DementiaSA and the goodies from various people!)

We are hoping to be reunited at the office with all of our DementiaSA staff and volunteers soon. Stay safe and stay at home!

PS. My connection with DementiaSA taught me never to argue with or upset a dementia patient. This stood me in good stead when a friend asked me to visit his elderly wife with advanced dementia in the frail care section of the Helen Keller Retirement Centre. He couldn’t visit her because of the lockdown regulations.

I visited her several times, and I thought I was making a breakthrough on one occasion because she exclaimed “I know you!”  But that was all.

I mention this because some experts say that one in every two patients in frail care around the world has early dementia. This indicates the huge scale of the dementia problem.

Please remember the Helen Keller Centre has a monthly dementia support group meeting (that takes place when we are not “physical distancing”) on the first Wednesday of every month, where carers are welcomed with tea/coffee/biscuits. The meeting starts at 6pm at the Centre in Links Drive, Pinelands.

On 1 November 2019, the new Care Centre at the Buh-Rein Retirement Village was opened on a beautifully sunny day. Set amongst landscaped gardens and architecturally pleasing apartments, the Retirement Village is a beautiful place to be. The first phase of the estate was opened in late 2018 and a year later, the Care Centre at Buh-Rein has been opened. This includes both a frail care facility and memory centre for people living with dementia.

Says Riaan Roos, Managing Director of the Multi Spectrum Property (MSP) group of companies: “MSP has gone to great lengths to achieve a Care Centre that will offer excellent care that will make a real difference in older people’s lives, by working within the guidelines of the recently released Macadamia Foundation’s ‘Memory Care specification for Dementia Care Facility Design and Implementation’. We were aided in this effort by input and advice from the architects, the Dennis Moss Partnership; Medwell, the care service providers; Shire Retirement Properties, as retirement living consultants; and dementia specialists, DementiaSA.”

Families of those who require the Care Centre’s services will be wowed by the focus on de-institutionalisation and the work that has gone into making the Care Centre as pleasant as possible a place to live, while still being under close supervision.

“The Memory Care Centre is the first of its kind in the Western Cape, with the kind of bespoke architecture designed to reduce frustrations that result from institutional environments and restrictive settings. Given the high incidence of dementias among ageing populations world-wide, and the effort that has been taken to create an appropriate space, the Care Centre is likely to experience high demand from the public and from within the estate. Several rooms have already been booked.”

DementiaSA was instrumental in advising MSP on the build and facilities for the centre. We have also established a satellite office in the centre to provide ongoing care and support to the memory centre and the care-providers, Medwell. We look forward to providing training, support and larger awareness about dementia from this lovely location, in 2020 and beyond.

The holidays can be a challenging time for any family member. Not everyone feels as jolly or merry as they think they need to be and the pressure to be cheery can weigh heavily on a person.

Additionally, visits from relatives and friends and travels can be stressful and tiring, especially after a long year. Here are a few tips for caring for yourself and your loved ones during the holidays.

1. Start with the basics!

Eat enough healthy food and drink enough water. Get enough sleep! Burning the candle at both ends sounds like a fabulous idea, but really you aren’t doing yourself or your loved ones any favours.

2. Move your body!

A walk around the neighbourhood or some beach bats before a swim can be enough to keep your body’s metabolism fired up and help you feel invigorated and strong. Of course, a hike, a game of tennis or an enthusiastic family football match are also a great idea.

3. Experience, rather than expense.

The thought of the rands running out of your bank account, or even worse, the debt mounting on your credit card, can easily leave you feeling bleak. Keep it tight and focus on making memories, rather than mountains of wrapping paper. Bring and share, Secret Santa and games rather than gifts are all great ways to keep connections alive without the overdraft.

4. Include everyone!

When you are stretched, it’s sometimes hard to remember Aunt Ann or even that neighbour down the road, whose family has emigrated, but reaching out will make you remember the true meaning of the holidays. Imagine the conversations you can have! New traditions being created are almost as important as the long standing ones. And don’t forget our little ones and our older folk, everyone wants to be involved, right from the beginning, so call in help to make the meringue, roll the dough, light the fire. Inclusion is the most precious gifts.

5. Quiet time too…

Be sure to make some time to sit quietly and reflect. Help others to have this time too and hold space for those that are too young or not able to do it for themselves. Sometimes it’s OK just to have no plans and sit quietly together, or alone.

These most certainly aren’t all the tips for the holidays but it’s a start, to get you thinking and remembering everything you’ve made great this year and thinking towards next year too.

Happy Holidays everyone!