Cutbacks in respite facilities placing added stress on people caring for loved ones at home, writes MICHELLE McDONAGH
RECENT CUTBACKS in home help services and respite beds are stretching people caring for relatives with dementia at home to the limit, a conference in Galway will be told this week.
Caring for a loved one with dementia full-time can be extremely stressful, said Dr Karena Meehan, consultant psychiatrist with the Later Life Psychiatry team at University College Galway, which is why she says support is so vital.
“All home help services have been cut back enormously and we are now finding it very difficult to get support for people with dementia unless they have physical needs,” said Dr Meehan. “Some of the first beds to have been slashed were respite beds and without this care, people caring for loved ones with dementia are being stretched to the limit in terms of being able to cope.
“Often there is one person in the family left to care for a relative and the only thing that keeps them going is getting out of the house for that few hours a week or the week’s respite they get in the year. Now, it’s getting harder and harder to even get them this support.”
Dr Meehan said the National Alzheimer’s Association and Western Alzheimer’s Foundation were doing the job of the HSE by providing grant assistance to families to get a few hours’ home help a week.
The consultant is one of the organisers of a conference for the families and carers of people with dementia which will be held in Galway on Thursday. There are about 40,000 people in Ireland suffering from dementia, many of whom are cared for at home.
Speakers will include consultants in medicine for the elderly and psychiatry for later life, legal experts, as well as carers and family members of people suffering from dementia. Key issues for patients with memory difficulties including medication, driving, respite care and legal dilemmas will be addressed.
While most people associate dementia with Alzheimer’s disease and memory loss, Dr Meehan pointed out that there were other common forms of dementia with different symptoms such as inappropriate behaviour and hallucination which can be very difficult and embarrassing for families to deal with.
“People with dementia don’t have the ability to speak on their own behalf like somebody with breast cancer, for example, or heart disease.
“We all have a terror of dementia and think it could never happen to us but most of us have a family member or somebody we know suffering from dementia and one in 20 of us will end up with it,” she said.
“The most important thing we can do is to make people aware of and put them in touch with the supports that are available so they are not struggling on behind locked doors trying to deal with this very difficult disease on their own.”