When Robert LePage’s wife Gail wandered away from their home in Westfield a few years ago, he was lucky to have a network of neighbors who knew and understood the predicament — dementia. They banded together and helped him find her.
Last spring South Hadley formalized that kind of community response on a big scale with an innovative program that aims to educate everyone — first responders, business people, average residents — about dementia. Together, they are learning what it is and how to help those who have it. The town is calling itself a “dementia-friendly” community.
It is an impressive effort.
Dealing with the confused, fearful and sometime aggressive behavior of someone experiencing mental debilitation is hard. And while there are support groups and resources available for families, South Hadley joins Westfield as a Valley community that has gone further. Among its efforts are trainings on how to talk to someone who is delusional; how to understand someone who can’t find the right words; how to defuse a tense encounter.
There also are plans in South Hadley to set up a registry of those with dementia which could be of help in the event a confused elder goes missing. Organizers are also working to get systems in place — lists of resources, numbers to call — for town employees to rely on.
Dementia, which is a category of symptoms with a variety of causes, affects an individual’s ability to use language, reason, remember things and control impulses. It is a cruel, devastating illness.
In 2010 it affected an estimated 35.6 million people worldwide, according to the journal “Alzheimer’s and Dementia.” That number is projected to double every 20 years. Seventy percent of those with dementia continue to live in their own homes.
The biggest risk factor is age. As the large population of Baby Boomers grows older, communities will face dementia with more frequency.
South Hadley Fire District 2 Chief David Keefe notes that dementia-related calls already are common in his town and that the training offered by the new program has helped his young ambulance crew members. They now understand that with dementia sufferers, they need to employ a different approach from their usual take-charge, get-it-done method, he said. Many of them are too young to have had much experience with the affliction in their own families.
Many deserve credit for what is happening in South Hadley — town, church, business and health-care leaders. But Rachel Tierney, 74, who helped her husband through his ordeal with Alzheimer’s disease, and the Loomis Communities and O’Connell Care, companies that provides elderly housing, deserve singling out for their initiative in getting the program going.
Community-wide efforts like this help brush away the sense of isolation that can afflict families in which a member is coping with dementia. The attention dementia is getting in South Hadley should help reduce stigma about something that’s inescapable, and a fact of life, just as recent community conversations about end-of-life decisions are opening important channels of discussion.
We hope people in other towns take note of what’s happening in South Hadley and strive for similar efforts in their own communities.