DEMENTIA ADVOCATE KATE SWAFFER PRAISES GROUP HOMES

24th November 2015- Kate Swaffer started experiencing severe headaches, scrambled words and dyslexia symptoms. After many brain scans, she was diagnosed with Semantic Dementia. She was told to start looking into aged care options yet she was only in her late 40s. The thought of a dementia day care unit filled her with thoughts ‘too terrible to comprehend.’

Kate decided to fight dementia head on by creating awareness of dementia and by inspiring those who had been diagnosed with the disease to live a full life.

She is currently living beyond her initial diagnosis of younger onset dementia. She is an author and international speaker.

After visiting three Group Homes in Sydney, Kate was so overwhelmed and grateful to Tamar Krebs, founder and Managing Director of Group Homes Australia, for bringing such a compassionate and nurturing ‘residential care home’ to Australia.

In an open letter of gratitude and praise to Group Homes Australia, Kate states:

 “I would, quite happily live in one of their homes… They have somehow found a way to ensure autonomy and safety are working in harmony, in a way that does not seem to demean anyone, or make anyone feel locked up. “This style of residential accommodation and care is the best I have seen in Australia.”

Kate expected to see the logo emblazoned on the gate or door of each home. However, the homes are indistinguishable and blend into their individual suburbs and streets providing dignity to those living there.

Kate exclaims: “I definitely had no sense I was visiting a ‘facility providingresidential care’. There were people in rooms folding up the washing, staff and residents in the kitchen preparing meals; smells of cooking, and not a hint of urine. Doors that opened out onto gardens and recreational areas, with washing lines, and one even with a swimming pool. Laundries in working order, various areas to sit and relax or play cards or watch television.”

She then adds: “Staff who sounded and looked like family members. Familymembers sitting around relaxing waiting for a mother to return from some shopping…Dining rooms, allowing for mingling and shared meals, and smaller eating areas allowing for more privacy.”

 

Kate concludes: “ This is the FIRST time, and ONLY time, I have felt I would or could move into ‘residential care’. As a person living with a diagnosis of dementia, I cannot tell you how much of a relief it felt to see someone who ‘gets’ it, and who has taken such a risk (financial, and professional) by refusing to do it as everyone else is doing it, and following their intuition, their heart, and actually ‘doing it’ so well.

                         

-ENDS-

 

Media Contact:

 

Candice Meisels

0481 369 484

candice@candicepr.com

 

About Group Homes:

 

Founded in 2012, Group Homes Australia offers a new model of care for people living with dementia.  The model is the first of its kind in Australia and focuses on creating a non-institutional way of living that emphasizes the resident’s abilities rather than their disabilities.  The homes look and feel like traditional houses in traditional streets and are part of the broader community.  The homes exude a warm, safe and friendly environment for 6-10 residents.  Each resident receives personal, tailored care and lives with dignity and a sense of purpose.  . Website: www.grouphomes.com.au

 

 

About Kate Swaffer:

Kate Swaffer is Chair and co-founder of Dementia Alliance International, Chair of the Alzheimer’s Australia Dementia Advisory Group, Board member of Alzheimer’s Disease International, an Honorary Associate Fellow with the Faculty of Science, Medicine and Health, University of Wollongong, and has a Masters of Science (Dementia Care), a Bachelor of Psychology, a Bachelor of Arts; Grad Dip Grief Counseling, Chef and is a Retired Nurse. As a humanitarian, an advocate for people with dementia, an author and international speaker, she is living beyond a diagnosis of younger onset dementia. Most notably she was a plenary speaker at the World Health Organisation First Ministerial Conference on Dementia in Geneva in March 2015. Kate’s professional and research interests include quality of live for people with dementia, the lived experience, stigma, human rights, discrimination and language in dementia. The SA Dept of Health produced a staff training DVD featuring her story. Her blog has been archived in the PANDORA collection of the SA and National Library, and is used extensively as an academic resource around the world. Her book “What the hell happned to my brain?: Living beyond dementia” is to be published by Jessica Kingsley Publishers in the near future.  Website http://kateswaffer.com/ OR www.infodai.org