A Sense of Belonging
By Veda Shah
10JZo
Imagine if at the age of 50 you found out your dad at the age of 72 was diagnosed with dementia, how would you feel? All the possible memories you created and shared with him, could be as good as gone in his mind.
There are specific reasons why people may get diagnosed with dementia, these factors are
- Old Age
- Dementia mainly affects older people from the ages of 65-90
- It is rare for people under the age of 65 to have dementia but it does occur at younger ages, this is called “Younger onset dementia”
- Genes
- The common forms of dementia are likely caused by genetic and environmental factors
- If your family has had a history with dementia, you have a higher risk of developing it yourself
- Health Care
- Obesity, High blood pressure, smoking, heart disease or diabetes can increase your chances of developing Dementia and if you have 2 of these diseases your
risk of generating Dementia is twice as bad
- Healthy LifeStyle
- Food, water and exercise can easily affect your body and brain
According to Alzheimer’s Disease International “Someone in the world develops dementia every 3 seconds. There were an estimated 46.8 million people worldwide living with dementia in 2015 and this number is believed to be close to 50 million people in 2018.” People diagnosed with Dementia sometimes feel as if they are an outsider, looking in on society as if there were a barrier separating them from the world. These people feel angry, upset and this may lead to depression. In global perspectives, one topic we learnt about was ethics, faith and ideology. I learnt about euthanasia, the causes and the effects of it. Euthanasia is one of the easy ways out of dementia. Euthanasia is a cure to many sick people. It is also the right to die with dignity and without suffering is justifiable. I ethically support euthanasia as this is a power that may be controlled by each individual, this is a decision that the person suffering makes. In addition to that Pamela Bone once said “I’m not afraid of being dead. I’m just afraid of what I might have to go through to get there.”
This issue exists in Singapore in many schools, rehabilitations or care centre’s.
According to we set you thinking today
“Singapore has one of the fastest-ageing populations in the Asia Pacific region, and the number of people living with dementia is expected to double by 2030”
Why does dementia occur in Singapore?
Dementia has spread all around Singapore and more people are aware of this as some patients may develop aggressive behaviours that may harm the public. In my opinion I feel as if individuals should not be afraid of people with dementia as it is a disease that any person can obtain at an old age, even you! Senior citizens and people with disabilities are more likely to have better quality of life if they engaged in a social activity or sports, according to a study by the National Council of Social Service.
There are a numerous amount of perspectives involving dementia. I will be explaining the local and global perspective. A local perspective would be the nurses that take care of the patients, in other words, the carers. These are the people that spend their days and nights just taking care of elderly people with psychological disorders. From the nurses perspective, it is their duty to help the patients live out a healthy and good quality standard of living, though there may be challenges and some patients may be aggressive or threatening but these people need stable support. A nurse at the Subacute Unit at NorthWest Hospital gave her opinion on Dementia patients, “I love my work, despite the challenges, because I know it is important to help our patients stay independent as long as possible. Our interventions enhance their dignity, sense of fulfillment, participation, independence and care.” One more perspective would be the global organization WHO (World Health Organization). This organization helps people recognize that Dementia is a public health priority and people must be more aware of this issue. There are many economic and social impacts with dementia. According to WHO “In 2015, the total global societal cost of dementia was estimated to be US$ 818 billion, equivalent to 1.1% of global gross domestic product (GDP).”
In my perspective I would say that dementia is a psychological disease that we may not be able to fight, but we can make it easier for the people that are suffering from it as they may feel excluded from society. The sustainability issues in Singapore are the Ageing population, Health service demands and the demographic views. More babies are being born causing more people to work, this leads to an increase in the ageing population as more people retire causing more pension payments from the government. According to the Strait times “One in 10 people aged 60 and above in Singapore has dementia”. This may be because of the health service in Singapore as more people have demanded for better healthcare, but due to the scarcity of the amount of resources Singapore is able to supply, the health care services have stayed the same. Singapore has the 2nd highest ranking in the public healthcare system in the world, but because people have very high expectations from them, many people believe that Singapore and the community are the reasons why so many people are being affected by Dementia. This is why it is important to help Dementia patients as then we can avoid a Dementia crisis.
There is no discrimination with Dementia, there is only feelings and emotions being hidden inside. We are all born free and equal, this is article number 1 of the human rights. Yet, people with dementia are not free and equal, these patients have been treated terribly as some individuals may be scared of them. Everyone has the right to express and feel what they want to. Everyone has the right to be happy and be themselves. However, society seems to be preventing this, which is why we need to act fast. In order to fix this we must improve the support and care that we give to the patients as they need to receive more of it. Not only this, but we must end age discrimination against the old people as younger people often obtain Dementia as well. The only way these two things can happen is if people have the willingness and ability to help the elderly. This would come from a growth mindset. This may be successful as then people may sympathise for the patients and try and help them out. More people would also be aware of this issue and try and donate money to the alzheimer’s care centre, in order to help these patients live a happy life.
Many social services in Singapore are able to help Dementia patients out, for example:
Watch this video…..
https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=304&v=hWyusr0e6sg
The sustainability issue has been measured by the isolation the dementia patients have been kept in as this video shows. There are a few ways people have tried to help them. Some people put the elderly in a elderly home, just for the safety for the person. Some try and advertise the issue in order to be a little more friendly towards them. To be honest, not much has been done for the elderly. There are a couple of NGOs that help to raise awareness of Dementia but specifically there is the Apex Harmony Lodge and the New Horizon Alzheimer’s centre.These two homes have partnered with UWCSEA and In grade 6 I had the opportunity to visit these wonderful homes and what I saw was enough to keep me happy for a very long time. Women at the age of 70-80 smiling and laughing, being social with their friends, playing board games. Some of the elderly would take a nap but the homes were so calm and peaceful. I can honestly say from the bottom of my heart that the best moment of all is when they see you because from then onwards, they will befriend you and sometimes they never forget you, their face never stops smiling and that is an image in my head that I will never be able to forget.