The Alzheimer Society of Newfoundland and Labrador will join its provincial counterparts across the country to kick off Alzheimer Awareness Month on Monday — and one of the events planned locally will involve some special musical guests.
“The purpose of the events throughout the month is to reduce stigma and raise educational awareness,” said Jessica Flynn, the education development co-ordinator for Alzheimer Society N.L.
“We will kick off the national campaign on Jan. 7 and this will be followed by a great event on Jan. 17 that features an announcement of an e-learning initiative that will be a great platform for health-care professionals.”
Helping to make that announcement will be the Ennis Sisters, who will premiere their “California Wine” music video at the introduction of the new educational program.
Alzheimer activities are important to the Ennis family, as they lost their father, John Ennis, to the disease. The sisters are currently touring with their new album “Keeping Time,” which features “California Wine.”
Alzheimer Awareness Month is held in support of the more than 560,000 Canadians who have that form of dementia.
Other activities planned will include interviews with families who are dealing with a loved one affected by the disease.
The statistics on Alzheimer’s are staggering in this province, with 8,666 currently diagnosed cases and 214 new cases of the disease diagnosed each year.
Dementia is an overall term for a set of symptoms caused by disorders affecting the brain.
In 2018, 646 clients availed of services from the Alzheimer Society, an increase of approximately 40 per cent from 2017, when 371 clients received services.
The number of Canadians living with a form of dementia is projected to rise to more than 937,000 by 2031.
Statistics show that more than 65 per cent of Canadians with dementia are women.
Caring for dementia patients nationwide in 2016 cost $10.4 billion and this figure is projected to increase to $16.6 billion by 2031. And while those figures include the salaries of health-care workers who attend to the needs of dementia patients, they don’t include the millions of hours of care logged by family and friends of people with dementia.
The Alzheimer Society is a not-for-profit organization that works to improve the quality of life for those affected by Alzheimer’s and to advance the search for a cure.
People interested in joining the cause can get involved in many ways, including volunteering with the Alzheimer Society of Newfoundland and Labrador, fundraising, advocating and donating.
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