ABOUT DEMENTIA ADVOCACY CANADA
Our mission is to inspire, empower, and amplify the voice of people with dementia lived experience and their care partners as well as equipping new voices to be heard.
We build and support sustainable communities and advocate and lobby for meaningful change. With a collaborative, open, and adaptable approach, we provide frameworks and education, influence policy, participate in research and drive improvements on a local, provincial, and federal level.
We are inspired by and aligned with the tagline of Dementia Advocacy International: “Nothing about us, without us!”
WHY DAC/MDC NOW?
The case for action on dementia is clear and present. The statistics point to an emerging, evolving crisis for our society.
But a quick scan of the landscape of multiple dementia-related organizations and healthcare institutions involved in the study and treatment of neuro-degenerative conditions would legitimately give rise to the question: why is one more dementia organization needed?
The need to curate, educate and connect the dots
The truth is that there is a dizzying labyrinth of organizations and information that deal with dementia. There is much valuable work out there. But where to start? What can be done to reduce the stigma of dementia? What information, seminars and studies are relevant to various phases of dementia? And what specific service needs can be met by which organizations? There is a need to make sense of it all, to distinguish the great from the good and curate the most pertinent for particular needs.
The need to mobilize and effect sustainable change
And while much is done TO the Dementia community, it is sadly, often WITHOUT the Dementia community. So structured, cohesive national guidelines that respect and are endorsed by provincial and community jurisdictions will go a long way to ensure that dementia will get the attention it deserves.
DAC/VDC advocates to governments for significant change related to dementia. Among our requests are the following:
A single point of contact to mitigate a fragmented system.
A system navigator assigned upon diagnosis through to end of life – to help with care coordination and connect individuals living with dementia and their families to the programs and support they need, when they need it.
Standards of excellence in dementia education.
Regulation of Personal Support Workers and Health Care Aides, and the establishment of a national framework with standards of excellence and core competencies.
Rehabilitation to live as well as possible with a dementia diagnosis.
Creation of national guidelines for a strengths-based rehabilitation program.
The need to reach out to and support communities
All dementia is local. Every day people sit in their homes worrying if they or someone close is developing signs of dementia. Every day people are handed a diagnosis of dementia by a medical professional and are left to themselves to figure out what comes next. Families struggle to reorganize their homes, their work and their lives to make room for this new reality. Few if any have any idea where to turn, who does what, what options exist and who can help? And these services have to be proximate to be effective. So DAC/VDC believes that beyond national and provincial policy and programs, communities must not be the weakest link in the support offered to people with lived experience and care partners. Communities are the foundation of the care continuum.