- A dementia diagnosis can be daunting, not just for you, but for your family too. I think constantly about how my diagnosis will impact my children and their children. I'm Jim Rogers, and I have younger-onset Alzheimer's. Welcome to Hold the Moment. It's a podcast from Dementia Australia full of stories about life after diagnosis. Dementia Australia has some really great resources on its website for families and carers.
They even have a free specialist counselling service for families grappling with younger-onset dementia. We also have an entire podcast episode on the impact dementia can have on families. You can download it right now in your podcast app, but this short episode features expert advice from the National Dementia Helpline. They're available 24-hours a day, every day of the year. If you call, you'll speak to an advisor just like Kristen. - I'm Kristen, an advisor on the National Dementia Helpline.
When you call us, you'll speak to someone like me. We're a free service and we're open to anyone. People living with dementia, their carers and families, even children under the age of 18 can give us a call. Family relationships can be complex when there are multiple people involved in caring for a loved one who's living with dementia. There can be different opinions about what the right thing to do is.
It can be helpful to reach out to a place like Dementia Australia, to receive more information and understanding, to help create a path forward that everyone can agree to even if it isn't their first choice. It can be difficult when you're caring for kids, and you're caring for a loved one who has a diagnosis of dementia. What are you meant to tell the kids when they ask all the questions that curious kids have?
You can always give us a call on the helpline, we can talk you through some ideas, and there's a fabulous website that Dementia Australia offers called Dementia in My Family that has information for kids of all ages, and has a video that I love where kids talk about what it's like to have a loved one in their family living with dementia. It can be hard to know how to best support your loved one who's living with dementia.
You might wonder if you should be going to all of their appointments with them. Really, that's something that's individual for everyone. A lot of people find it helpful to have someone come along so that they can just listen to their healthcare professional, and their helper person, whoever that is, can write down notes, ask questions that they might have had ahead of time, maybe even help with things like getting you to and from the appointment.
When someone in your family is diagnosed with dementia and they don't live close by in the way that you traditionally think of caring for someone, there are some ways that you can still help and care from a distance. You could contact the National Dementia Helpline for some ideas, but a couple of tips are things like helping out with booking appointments, taking care of scheduling things. You could order groceries to be delivered.
You could order arrangements of flowers or anything to brighten someone's day. You might wonder what kind of supports would be available for your loved one who speaks a language other than English. You can contact the National Dementia Helpline through the translation and interpreting service, where you're able to access our supports in the language that you are comfortable with.
When you're diagnosed with younger-onset dementia, which means you're under 65 years of age, you might have a lot more going on in your life, and it can be helpful to seek support, not just for you, but for your family members as well. Dementia Australia offers a family engagement programme, which is a free support service for you and your family. Everyone responds differently, which is why it can be helpful to find supports.
It might be in your cultural community, in your spiritual community, your friends, family, or you can always call Dementia Australia, whatever your age. Dementia Australia is here to support families. - The helpline is not just for people living with dementia, it's for their families and carers too. If you've got any questions about anything you've heard on this episode, just contact the National Dementia Helpline on 1800 100 500.
Their trained advisors are available 24-hours a day, every day of the year. Don't forget, there's lots of episodes of Hold the Moment for you to explore right now. The series is designed to help you with lots of issues you might be facing, whether it's getting your affairs in order after a dementia diagnosis, adjusting to new exercise or sleep routines, or advice on getting around town and travelling.
Make sure you or a family member helps you hit "follow" on Hold the Moment, because we've got a new series coming soon. It's focused on carers and family members. If you hit "follow" in your podcast app, you'll be alerted when our next series comes out. This episode was produced by Deadset Studios for Dementia Australia.