"I often say the whole world is a dementia village, and we have to include people with special needs in our normal society." So says Frank van Dillen, chief architect of De Hogeweyk, an experimental dementia care facility in Weesp, the Netherlands.
As the number of dementia sufferers soars in step with an aging population, dementia is becoming everyone's concern. And so there emerges a global movement of what you might call "citizen dementia care."
In Japan, the government's Orange Plan involves training 12 million people by 2020 in how to recognize and engage with dementia sufferers in the community.
In Britain, Dementia Friends UK is a massive public education campaign offering both face-to-face information sessions and online videos. "It aims to transform the way the nation thinks, acts and talks about this condition," its website reads.
Out of the U.S. comes a Silver Alert broadcast strategy - based on the Amber Alert for missing children. The idea is to create a kind of community dragnet to keep watch for dementia patients who are reported missing. Other countries now have their own variations, such as China's Yellow Bracelet Project.
In Canada, several communities in Ontario have launched Blue Umbrella programs, where free training is offered in dementia education and practical strategies of engagement.
"In Alberta, we've amended Bill 210 - the missing persons act - to include a section for silver alert protocol," says Lili Liu, a professor in the Faculty of Rehabilitation Medicine and chair of the Department of Occupational Therapy. Liu was one expert to supply research to members of the legislative assembly who passed the bill, which came into force July 1, 2018.
Globally, dementia has been recognized by the United Nations as one of the major health challenges for our generation given aging populations. Guidelines from Alzheimer's Disease International for "dementia-friendly communities" offer a blueprint for how efforts to cope might unfold worldwide. The focus of these efforts is to destigmatize dementia, encourage inclusiveness and foster compassion.
The message: be your brother's and sister's keeper. Someday, this could be you.
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