She no longer calls him by name and often forgets what she had for breakfast 10 minutes after eating.
“I’m not sure she knows who I am. She tells me that she loves me and she says ‘I really appreciate everything you do for me’ so there is a connection there,” said Tom Noble, 78, the primary caregiver of his wife Janet, 75, who was diagnosed with dementia four years ago after she fell and struck her head.
It’s a reality more Canadians can expect to face with a growing elderly population.
Today, 747,000 Canadians have dementia and that number is expected to double in the next 20 years, according to the Alzheimer Society of Canada.
“Generally the population is not aware how prevalent dementia is,” said Sally Bennett Olczak, CEO of the Alzheimer Society of Windsor and Essex County.
That’s why the Alzheimer society will spend the next several weeks, during Alzheimer’s — the most common type of dementia — awareness month, decreasing stigmas surrounding the disease.
Olczak said people often pull away from friends or loved ones after diagnosis when, in fact, that’s when they’re needed the most.
Friends who would often visit the Nobles now phone the couple instead.
“They understand it, but don’t want to be involved with any care,” Noble said. “They think as soon as someone’s diagnosed with Alzheimer’s or dementia they’re not going to remember them or they may repeat themselves.”
Currently, there are 6,000 people in Windsor and Essex County diagnosed with dementia, Olczak said. By 2016, that number is expected to spike by 300.
For 65 year olds, one in 13 people will have dementia. By 75, one in eight; 85, one in three; and 90, one in two people will suffer from the disease.
This doesn’t include people who are living with undiagnosed dementia. Most types of dementia are non-reversible and can cause memory loss, personality change, and impaired intellectual functions quickly, or gradually over time.
“People need to educate themselves on the disease and the disease process,” Olczak said. “That’s a time of life where you need to pull the people close to you together and people need to work collaboratively to care for someone.”
The Alzheimer Society of Windsor and Essex County provides direct/home care for people with dementia, an on-site day program, education and individual and group support.
Noble said if he hadn’t turned to the Alzheimer society or the Community Care Access Centre he would’ve burned himself out by now caring for Janet alone in their Windsor home.
“No doubt in my mind that if I didn’t have this help she’d probably be in some long-term care place and I’d probably be a wreck,” he said.
The Alzheimer Society of Windsor and Essex County receives two-thirds of its funding through the Erie St. Clair Local Health Integration Network.
Fundraising, donations and fees from some of the programs cover the rest of expenses, Olczak said.
Volunteers from the society will be at Devonshire Mall this weekend and next weekend from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Saturday and 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Sunday distributing information outside The Bay.
The society will also be at The Wedding Odyssey event at the Ciociaro Club Jan. 12 and 13 promoting donations in lieu of wedding party favours — a growing trend Olczak called extremely touching and helpful to the society.
Two fundraising indoor walks will take place Jan. 26 from 10 a.m. to noon at Devonshire Mall and Feb. 2 at the Leamington Recreation Complex. Participants can register at walkformemories.ca
A Battle of the Brains trivia night will also be held Feb. 1 at the Ciociaro Club. Registration is $30 a person or $200 for a team of eight. Dinner starts at 6 p.m. and trivia at 7 p.m.
Go to alzheimerwindsor.com for more details.
