LOCAL writer Rachel McMahon has launched her Talk About Dementia Project (TAD Project) in Limerick.
Rachel, who helped care for her father Tony when he was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s in 2005, founded the TAD Project to spread awareness of dementia in all of its forms.
The TAD Project will work via social media by asking the public to answer the question: “If you could share one experience or fact about dementia what would it be?”
The public are asked to respond with a photograph or video of themselves with their fact either voiced on video or written on paper with a photograph using the hashtags #TalkAboutDementia and #TADProject.
The photo or video should then be posted on social media sites Twitter, Facebook, Tumblr or Instagram.
Dementia is a term that describes a number of conditions that cause damage to brain cells. Alzheimer’s is the most common form of dementia.
According to the Alzheimer’s Association of Ireland there are 47,744 with the disease in Ireland.
Other forms of dementia include: vascular dementia, early onset dementia, dementia with Lewy bodies, frontotemporal dementia, and alcohol-related dementia, such as Korsakoff’s Syndrome and Creutzfeld-Jacob dementia.
There will be an estimated 240 percent hike in numbers of people living with dementia in Ireland by 2041, reaching an approximate 140,000 compared to 41,447 in 2006.
It is believed that, by next year, 4,000 people will develop dementia in Ireland, with more than 9.9 million new cases worldwide.
Rachel said: “As I helped to care for my father for seven years my objective is to make this campaign go viral, to raise awareness for anyone affected by dementia.
“It’s also for family and friends that have been involved to some degree in caring for someone with dementia. Many people who are in the midst of caregiving are often too tired or emotionally unable to express themselves.
“This is an opportunity to do so, even with simple things such as: how to give the best level of care possible, how to dress and wash a loved one with the illness, while trying to maintain a semblance of sanity.
“If we can only teach a handful a people about dementia, we are offering a voice to those with dementia whose voices has been taken away.”
Richard Lynch of ILoveLimerick.com, who helped Rachel put the campaign together, said: “My own father passed away this past April and suffered from vascular dementia for three years before he passed. I think it’s important that people are educated about the different forms of dementia as knowledge is power.”
For further information, contact letstalkaboutdementia@gmail.com.
