Why Youth Should Care About Dementia

Dementia Connect Goes Digital participants on a Zoom call. Screenshot by Niki Lee.

As Singapore’s population ages, more people will develop dementia. Youth gather to learn about dementia and how to foster a Dementia-Friendly Community.

On Friday evening (June 26), 40 youths gathered online via Zoom for Dementia Connect Goes Digital, the second webinar of a four-part series organised by Youth Corps Singapore (YCS) Eldercare Cluster. Ms Karen Lim from the Alzheimer’s Disease Association (ADA) spoke in the one-hour session on how to create an inclusive Dementia-Friendly Community (DFC).

Dementia is a syndrome that is typically progressive, where the ability to process thought deteriorates beyond what is expected of normal human ageing. Alzheimer’s disease accounts for the majority of dementia cases and is followed by post-stroke dementia.

According to the World Health Organisation, a new case of dementia is diagnosed every three seconds. Worldwide, the number of Persons with Dementia (PWD) is estimated at 50 million as of 2019 and is projected to almost triple by 2050.

In 2015, the Institute of Mental Health headed the Well-Being of the Singapore Elderly Study which concluded that one in ten Singaporeans aged 60 years and up have dementia. Also, the ratio increases to one in two individuals aged 85 and above. With our ageing population, dementia will become more and more common in the years to come. Therefore, more people will be required to take on the role as a caregiver to PWD.

Additionally, the National Neuroscience Institute noted that the number of cases of young onset dementia has increased. Up 33% from 184 cases in 2017 to 245 cases in 2019. Young onset dementia is for those who are diagnosed with dementia from the ages of 35 to 65.

Ms Lim, the Assistant Manager of Community Enabling at ADA, gave a brief background on dementia in Singapore. Ms Lim focussed mostly on how to effectively communicate with PWD and stressed that “there’s no one-liner answer to this open-ended question. As shared in my Q&A session, you can apply the KIND and CARE approach for a start.”

The CARE approach is to be clear when communicating with PWD, to acknowledge the PWD’s concerns, to be respectful and reassure the PWD, as well as, to engage the PWD to provide comfort and build trust with them.

The webinar was organised by a few young people from the YCS’s Eldercare Cluster. Including Niki Lee, a 23-year-old student and the Director of Awareness of the Eldercare Cluster at YCS. He explained that the Eldercare Cluster is “a group of youth who are passionate about serving the community with a focus on eldercare services in Singapore”.

The participants ranged from ages 15 to 35, the range that YCS views as youth. They were mostly tertiary students, including Glenyse Lim, a 19-year-old student who “wanted to find out more about dementia because [her] grandmother has dementia”. Glenyse stated that “it’s important that we are more understanding towards people with dementia and their caregivers. The words we choose and how we communicate with people with dementia matters.”

Niki also commented that awareness and action are the two main ways the youth can contribute in creating a DFC in Singapore. Young people “play a pivotal role in shaping the culture of a nation. Youth are the catalyst of change.”