With cases forecast to more than double in the coming decades and a third of the population aged over 55, Mosman Council is supporting increased community awareness and education around dementia.
As part of the initiative, Council is hosting a Dementia Forum in February and is working with Dementia Australia to offer free training to volunteers, businesses, community champions and front-facing staff to help build a more ‘dementia-friendly’ community.
It compliments regular activities and events including: a weekly group for carers of relatives or friends with an illness, dementia or disability; art gallery tours and art-making for people living with memory loss and their family or friends; and interactive ‘Magic Table’ game sessions for seniors, including people managing dementia.
At the Dementia Forum on 6 February at Mosman Square Seniors Centre, Dr Suraj Samtani from the Centre for Healthy Brain Ageing at UNSW Sydney will share insights to his research and tips on how social interactions can potentially prevent dementia and help people stay mentally healthy and live longer.
The community training sessions will consist of one-hour in-person training, followed by one-hour in-person reflection sessions, each on different days in February at Mosman Civic Centre.
The aim is to help community members and staff better understand the challenges faced by individuals with dementia, including social isolation, as well as the struggles of family and friends to support people with dementia. Creating compassionate communities and fostering high levels of service quality will also be explored.
Caring for people with dementia and memory loss was a consistent theme in Council’s recent Creating a better Mosman for over 55s: What you told us ageing consultation report.
About 35 per cent of Mosman’s population is aged 55 years and over. That is expected to increase to 43 per cent by 2036, demographic forecasts show.
Dementia Australia data shows that the prevalence of dementia cases in Mosman was estimated at 684 in 2021 and is forecast to more than double to 1584 cases by 2058.
The risk of dementia increases with age, however cases of younger onset dementia, affecting people aged in their 30s, 40s and 50s are also expected to rise in the coming years.
