New online support group for family carers of people with dementia
THE Alzheimer Society of Ireland has launched a new online support group for family carers of people with dementia to help alleviate the increasing pressure points on family carers, such as loneliness, social-isolation, fear, stress and anxiety, during the Covid-19 public health emergency.
Watch the video here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XlysjYneeWs&feature=youtu.be&dm_t=0%2C0%2C0%2C0%2C0
The ASI has carried out research and is receiving new information from dementia advisers, a new online dementia nurse service and calls to the Alzheimer national helpline that the pressure points on family carers of people with dementia are increasing and and reaching a critical point.
The public health crisis has been a perfect storm for carers of people with dementia with the closure of day centres in particular, along with social clubs, Alzheimer cafés, face-to-face carer training. Many carers have nowhere to go each day to help keep their loved ones active and stimulated.
There was a crisis in dementia care in Ireland long before Covid-19 – but now it’s unthinkable what family carers are going through with no access to vital key supports and services.
However, throughout this public health emergency, the ASI has continued to support people with dementia and their families. The ASI has implemented new ways of providing ASI supports remotely to clients and their families such as regular telephone calls and activity packages for people to use in their own homes and the recent expansion of the national helpline which offers a 1:1 telephone or video conference call with a dementia nurse.
Today, the ASI is launching another new service – the online support group for family carers - which will be a dedicated space for family carers to find information and resources of interest to them. This will be like our usual face-to-face support groups – but now everything will be online.
This is a space for family carers to:
•Talk and share openly with each other, to support each other;
•Ask questions and talk about topics of interest to you;
•Access discussion forums and a weekly live video meeting;
•Get support and guidance from our dementia advisers and expert tutors.
In addition, each online support group will be a manageable size so people can support each other and carers can log on whenever they want meaning that this support is available 24/7. A support group will last for 20 weeks and the aim is to establish 10 groups of 30 carers - 300 people.
For more on this service, see https://alzheimer.ie/ or contact the Alzheimer National Helpline on 1800 341 341.