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[SINGING]
-Dementia is a progressive illness,
and these days, people refer to it as brain failure,
a bit like kidney failure, heart failure, which
really makes it easier to understand.
We see a deterioration of the personality, really.
And so the person that families and friends once knew really
begins to disintegrate.
So it's a whole social, emotional issue for people.
-Oh, terrible.
Terrible.
I cry.
I still do.
I still cry, because I'm in the house on my own now.
We've got our own home, and I'm there
every day and every night.
And I come up here about three times a week and see him.
-Good dementia care, I believe, means
making people who come into residential care comfortable,
making it home-like as possible,
and maintaining their identity.
When they come into care, you see another side
of their personality, and you see the creative side, often.
People become involved in activities.
Meaningful occupation's really, really important.
So people may be involved in art, and we have a book club.
The DHB supports us.
They support us on several levels.
There are gerontology nurses that will come in,
if we request, if we need help with further assessments,
giving lots of information.
Updating us to changes, updating us with research,
and often courses that are available.
-And to see the way that they work
with the person's personality in situations that get awkward.
In the beginning, I must admit dementia
was a word that we didn't really think about, or know about.
So we sort of slowly got used to the fact,
but when we saw that they couldn't cope together,
my parents, we knew that something had to be done.
So I accepted it as part of life.
And I must admit, Tina came to our home and spoke to us,
and was really instrumental in us feeling,
this is somewhere Mum can go and feel
like she's still in a family situation.
-We often, when we show people around dementia unit
for the first time, they'll say, my mother, father
isn't like these people here.
And so quite a bit of time is spent,
when they first come and look around, talking about that.
And often we talk to them before they
go into the dementia unit, what to expect.
-It's very hard when you drive away and you think, oh my god,
why isn't it different?
And you realize, well, no.
In fact, it's probably, this is Mum's journey,
and you just have to accept it, and you'll
have your own journey when the time comes.
Because we're Croatian, so it was very important to Mum
that she has her identity around her
and everything, so they straight away said to me,
have you got any music, or have you
got anything that you'd like to bring?
And that was important, because Mum is-- in her own home,
she has a lot of things around her, personal little bits
and pieces, so that's why we try to bring it into her room here.
And they play Croatian music, which is very happy.
Mum loves festive, and joyous, and dance music,
don't you, Mum?
So, you know--
-I love this pair here.
They're both lovely girls.
Lovely.
-Yes.
I think the new pamphlet for dementia is excellent.
The DHB initiated it, and people from residential care,
the Alzheimer's Foundation have joined that group,
and together have developed information for families.
And I think that's where the gap is for families,
is having information, knowing what to expect next.
What the journey is going to be for people with dementia.