Goeree Overflakkee – Dementia is a disruptive disease. A disease with a huge impact on daily life. For the social environment, someone with dementia is first and foremost a patient. But someone with dementia is also a person: a father or a mother, a partner, a friend, a colleague, a teammate… Social Approach Dementia looks beyond the role of the patient. That increases the quality of life. Read below the entire report of the inspiration meeting that was held in the Diekhuus in Middelharnis >>
Continuation
Social Approach to Dementia is a method developed by Anne-Mei The, professor by special appointment of Long-term Care and Dementia at the VU in Amsterdam. She and Mark Smit were in Middelharnis on Thursday 2 June to discuss Social Approach Dementia with professionals, informal carers and volunteers who provide care and support to people with dementia.
The inspiration meeting in the Diekhuus was organized by the network Ketenzorg Dementie Goeree-Overflakkee and Voorne-Putten Rozenburg. “In the network, organizations work together to organize and implement care for people with dementia and informal carers as effectively as possible,” said Ellen Hoogervorst, chair of the Ketenzorg Dementie Goeree-Overflakkee and Voorne-Putten Rozenburg steering committee. “We should be proud of the collaboration.”
The disease dementia is bad, argued Anne-Mei The and Mark Smit, but the way the social environment reacts to people with dementia is sometimes even worse. “There are silences, you see meaningful looks: look, she doesn’t remember. Or: yes, she remembers that… She is a patient with whom you can no longer talk, but about whom you talk. As a human being you no longer matter.”
New happiness in life
The Social Approach to Dementia method assumes that the voice of people with dementia is important. That meaning and self-confidence do not have to come to an end once the diagnosis of dementia has been made. And that relationships and social roles – your place in society – can also be followed up.
There is an interaction between the disease, the inner world (giving meaning, self-confidence) and the outer world (relationships, social roles). “Social Approach to Dementia influences that interaction”, according to Anne-Mei The and Mark Smit. “By stimulating social roles and expanding the network, you regain your place in society. This leads to more sense of purpose and self-confidence. And that in turn has a positive effect on the disease. This is how you find new happiness in life, that is the core. The focus is not on the patient, but on the person, who can still do many things with a little help.”
Social Approach Dementia teams are now active in eight places in the Netherlands. The teams consist of professionals with and without a healthcare background, experts by experience, volunteers and students. Also at Goeree-Overflakkee, steps are being taken to further shape and content the Social Approach to Dementia.
The working method pays off, The and Smit made clear. Research shows that the quality of life increases from 6.5 to 7.4, the pressure on the labor market decreases by 25,500 people and there is a cost saving of 564,000 euros per year. “On average, people go to a nursing home nine months later and crisis care is less common.” By the way: Social Approach Dementia is also possible within the nursing home.
Text: Kees van Rixoort for Ketenzorg Dementia Goeree-Overflakkee and Voorne-Putten Rozenburg