Ignore everything you think you know about dementia. A two-day event In Port Macquarie in March will showcase how it’s possible to live well with the condition.
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People living with dementia will be among the plenary speakers, workshop hosts and forum panellists at Omnicare Alliance’s RED Conference 2019, March 28-29, taking place at Sails Port Macquarie.
Among them will be Queenslander John Quinn, who was diagnosed with early onset dementia three years ago. For him, accepting his fate did not mean surrendering to it. John resolved instead not just to live well, but to change the way Australian society regards and accommodates this cognitive impairment.
“We will achieve more if we work together to challenge the stigma surrounding a dementia diagnosis,” he says of his conference involvement.
“Researchers who I work alongside say that people living with dementia bring something to the table that they don’t get from the textbooks.
“That’s because we are the experts of the lived experience.”
A Regional Experience in Practical Dementia Care (RED) is community impact organisation Omnicare’s second such conference.
The first - a one-day event, staged in 2017 - attracted more than 200 attendees from across regional NSW and even from the Northern Territory. This year’s conference is on course to bring 300 attendees – among them, individuals living with dementia, carers, service providers, academics and support workers.
As well as examining research and strategies to help achieve the conference theme of ‘Living Well With Dementia’ – with an emphasis on Montessori-based methods – there’ll be a strong focus on the role of carers and how to support them in improving the quality of life at home.
Rollands Plains resident Kerry West is the primary carer of her husband James, who lives with dementia.
“I’ve been interviewed for a video to be shown at The RED Conference and I’ll be involved in a panel session,” Kerry says.
“I found the first RED Conference a good opportunity to ask questions and get more information about dementia.
“I think people living with dementia, and their carers will benefit from attending by realising they’re not alone – there’s a lot of other people facing similar situations.
“I believe, like me, they’ll gain confidence and feel more empowered.”
For more information go to red.omnicare.org.au
