Though the diagnosis may be the same, life after a diagnosis of dementia can look quite different. Much can depend on the support available to help you live as well as you can.
JOHN
When John is diagnosed with dementia, the doctor giving him the results can’t look him or Elizabeth, his wife, in the eye. It’s not a good start.
Friends start waiting for John and Elizabeth to call them first. Their kids start ordering for him in restaurants. John’s gym says he can’t use the machines without a companion anymore, so Elizabeth tries her best to work out with him, but it’s just too hard on her knees and they both have to stop going.
Two years later, his name seems frozen in place on the waiting lists for special recreational programs. They hardly go out anymore, and friends don’t come around. John and Elizabeth try not to think about the contrast with the full life they used to have.
MARTHA
When Martha gets her diagnosis of dementia, the doctor reassures her and her husband, Grant, that life is not over. Dr. Hussein explains that she’s going to work in concert with a pharmacist, an occupational therapist, a nurse and others to connect Martha with the right help.
“Come back soon,” Dr. Hussein says. “I’m eager to hear how it’s going and what I can help you with after a few months.”
Grant and the kids spend an afternoon in a workshop to learn the right ways to support Martha. Then Grant shares what he learned with their friends.
The staff at Martha’s gym help adapt her exercise program to deliver the most benefit – and keep adapting it as her needs change.
Martha and Grant sign up for programs and groups in the community. They can spend time with young children, professionals, and other people like them on the dementia journey. Six months after the diagnosis, they look around and see that rather than shrinking, their world has grown.
If you were diagnosed with dementia, would you rather have Martha’s life after the diagnosis? Or John’s?
DEMENTIA RESEARCH AT THE RIA
The RIA’s researchers all look at aging from different angles. They have specialties in exercise, nutrition, technology, spirituality, the arts and more. No matter what their specialty, they all work to help people live well with dementia.
“By creating more capacity and capability in communities to support people, we’re keeping them engaged as much as possible. That’s really important,” says Dr. Allen Power, Schlegel Chair in Aging and Dementia Innovation and geriatrician.
“People with dementia are still working hard to do the best they can. And they can live, with support, very well – and often for a long time.”
Based on research that shows what works, the RIA is developing new tools and guidance for people living with dementia, their families, and the professionals who provide care.
We’re working on:
- Workshops for family and friends to learn how to support someone living with dementia – designed so that any care home or community organization can deliver them
- Guidance in different languages, adapted to different cultural contexts, for Canadian newcomers who have just received a dementia diagnosis
- A new way for care home staff to understand well-being, helping them to help residents without reaching for a prescription
HOW YOU CAN HELP
Your monthly donation to the RIA can help people live well throughout their aging journey.
Members of Change AGEnts – the RIA’s monthly giving program – understand that research takes time. The research process is based on rigour and thoroughness, building each step on the one before. The result is the best advice for older adults and the professionals who care for them: advice that’s based on hard-won evidence.
You can start a monthly gift to help people thrive at every age.
Monthly giving is easy: your donation of any amount you choose comes to the RIA on the same day each month, and you can change the amount or cancel any time.
Become a Change AGEnt with your monthly gift today! Start My Monthly Gift.