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New initiative to divert people with dementia from institutional care launched

Genio, the charity heading up the project, says it hopes to provide those living with dementia with the option of living for longer within their own communities and having an improved quality of life.

AN INITIATIVE AIMED at diverting the number of people suffering from dementia from institutional care has been launched by Labour Party Deputy Ciaran Lynch, on behalf of Minister of State Kathleen Lynch.

The charity Genio will develop and test new service models for people with dementia as part of the programme. By doing so, it hopes to change the way that dementia is thought about and responded to – with a view to ultimately inform national policy.

Genio says it wants those living with dementia to be able to live for longer within their own communities and have an improved quality of life – says that if this were to happen, significant savings could also be provided for the Exchequer.

Four pilot projects

The Kinsale Community Response to Dementia (K-CORD) is one of four pilot projects in four different geographical areas that will work with Genio’s support to develop and evaluate community based services to people with dementia over the next three and a half years. Speaking at the launch in Kinsale on Thursday, Deputy Lynch, on behalf of the Minister responsible for Disability, Equality, Mental Health and Older People, said that many Irish people with dementia are in group residential care.

“Starting in Kinsale, we will develop and test new service models and the results of this will influence public policy and investment in this area. These projects should build the leadership required in the field and drive permanent change to the benefit of people with dementia, their families and society in general.”

Genio is collaborating with the Department of Health,  Atlantic Philanthropies and the HSE – who are jointly funding the €4.3m cost of the four projects – on the initiative. The charity has previously supported innovative projects that positively impact on the lives of people with disabilities and mental health issues in Ireland, and is now extending its focus to include people with dementia.

The K-CORD project is one of four local initiatives that successfully applied to Genio for grants to develop and test new services for those with dementia; each project will use creative and different ways to provide tailored supports to people with dementia to enable them to continue living in the community. The establishment of a national learning network is also planned.

Drop-in centre

The Kinsale project, led by Dr Tony Foley of The Medical Centre, will include a community drop-in centre for people with dementia, innovative activities for people to participate in, training of professionals and volunteers and support to carers, they said.

An ambitious set of targets for 2015 will include a reduction in admission to group residential care, some discharges of people due to enhanced community support and greater community awareness and understanding of dementia.

“We believe the people of Kinsale will demonstrate that communities in collaboration with professionals can and will provide the support needed by people with dementia to keep them active and involved in their community”, according to Dr Tony Foley of K-CORD.

There are over 40,000 people with dementia in Ireland, 14,000 of whom are in residential care. According to the Founding Director of Genio, Ms Madeleine Clarke, “K-Cord and other innovative projects around the country will demonstrate how people with dementia can retain more independence and control over their own lives. The learning arising from these innovative projects will hopefully lead to a transformation in the way we think about, and respond to, people with dementia in Ireland.”

Deputy Lynch speaking on behalf of Minister Lynch stated, “Through the dementia projects in Kinsale and elsewhere and through its work in the area of mental health and disability Genio is playing an important role in encouraging the re-configuration of resources towards ensuring people can live as included and contributing citizens within in their communities. We need to change our thinking away from seeing institutionalisation and a one-size-fits-all approach as the standard treatment model and Genio’s work is helping us to do that.”

Read: Companies cease development of Alzheimer’s drug after failure in late-stage trials>

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7 Comments
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    Mute Conor Hickey
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    Aug 17th 2012, 9:20 AM

    What a load of rubbish. Care of dementia residents is NOT a one size fits all process. And if it is, THAT problem is the one that should be addressed first. What is HIQA doing about it?
    The aim of this process is to cut costs. There is nothing here to ensure proper care is provided. What about Police clearance etc for the people providing the so called care?
    People with the mildest of Dementia disorders are vulnerable and cannot take care of financial or other decisions. They require 24/7 care to ensure safety and security.
    We must object to these plans or before you know it, the government will have removed its obligation to care for our elderly, unwell citizens.

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    Mute Conor Hickey
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    Aug 17th 2012, 9:27 AM

    Many Irish people with dementia are in group residential care.
    Are these care homes classed as institutions?
    If there is something wrong with the care home system, can you please inform HIQA who will be there within 24 hours to carry out an inspection?

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    Mute Tertullian
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    Aug 17th 2012, 9:54 AM

    I fully agree.This is just a cynical attempt to save costs dressed up in buzzwords like “community” and “quality of life”. People with severe dementia are better off cared for by healthcare professionals but that costs money so the poor individuals concerned will henceforth be thrown to the tender mercies of “the community”. The British journalist and writer Louis Heren once said that when a politician tells you something, the question one should ask oneself is: “why is this bastard lying to me?”. In this case it was never more apt.

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    Mute Jenn Byrne
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    Aug 17th 2012, 10:31 AM

    Tertullian,
    People with severe dementia in many cases need to enter residential care. However, should a family wish to care for there loved one in their own homes they should be supported in every way possible. Then there’s the fact that those in the early to middle stages of an organic memory disorder, who are still capeable of many tasks should not be consigned to care facilities unneccesarily. As the daughter of a man with early onset Alzheimer’s I know that myself and my mother and my sibling want to spend as much time with my father as possible while we can and while he still knows who we are. He may not be able to travel by himself, cook or handle many day to day responsibilities but as of now we are still capeable of taking care of him and he still retains many autonomous faculties (such as making cereal or a cup of tea etc but no ironing/cooking etc). I welcome this initiative that will see people in my families position get more assistance from the government in the form of community assistance in helping my father to enjoy what independece he still has. As it is residential care would be unsuitable for a man who likes his independence still and who would rebel against being within residential care. The community assistance is overloaded and inadequate at the moment. It’s not a case of one or the other but both. Adequare residential care and adequate community support for ALL the stages of dementia. It’s a degenerative illness and needs change over the course of months or years. My family needs assistance also and support as it is a very difficult situation, something which increased community sensitivity can help with. I worry about the lack of counselling available and the heartache my mother feels at watching he man she married fade away. It’s about providing for the individual and their families, about a better understanding of people with dementia. They are not vegetables, they need stimulus and retain personalities for a long time and residential care facilities cannot cater to the social needs of dementia sufferers before they reach severe stages. Sticking someone in a home is not the right answer and the government seems to for once be looking at the quality of life, something which gives me hope.

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    Mute Ryan Allen
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    Aug 17th 2012, 1:13 PM

    @ Jenn: Brilliant comment and I couldn’t agree more. My grandmother was cared for at home for as long as was possible. She then spent some time living with my family. When things became unmanageable, she went to a nursing home. But the policy of keeping people with dementia in their homes/with their families for as long as possible AND supporting those families is a good one. Like you said there are very different stages of this horrible disease.

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    Mute Jayniemac
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    Aug 17th 2012, 9:51 AM

    Agree with Conor…purely a cost cutting measure, I can’t for the live of me imagine how someone with dementia (a family member has it) could even begin to cope without round the clock care…just because the community has a greater understanding?! Oh please. This is endangering vulnerable confused people all to save a few quid.

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    Mute Tomy Iona
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    Aug 17th 2012, 10:25 AM

    My father is a retired psychiatric nurse – he told me about a confrontation he had with one of his “superiors” a long time ago when heath cuts were on the agenda and savings were being made through similar methods. Paraphrased like this:
    Sup: “John is being moved out to the ???? care home”
    Dad: “Eh? Why? What’s the story there?”
    Sup: “Um – he’ll be out closer to his family”
    Dad: “Bullshit, you want to save money and your answer is to move a guy who has only ever known here as home to a place where he will be 30 miles closer to his family – who haven’t visited him in 3 years!”

    I know this is a specific situation but it does shine a light on why decisions are made – and they are made more due to finances than the good of the person.

    It amazes me how many “initiatives” pop up during recession times – ones that nobody gave a damn about when the country had no money problems.

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