Four Bachelor of Science in Nursing students in Susan Knibbs' community nursing course are the latest group to help Stony Plain become a dementia-friendly community a place where individuals with dementia can access local facilities, find their way around, feel safe and maintain their social networks.
It's important work for several reasons, says Ellen Elliott, site director at the Alberta Health Services Westview Health Centre in Stony Plain. "Dementia can be incredibly isolating," she explains. "The Westview Dementia Support Community Collaborative came from listening to patient and staff experiences of how people with early dementia are being supported informally out in the community, and because of that are able to manage longer in their homes."
As the number of people with dementia increases (the Alzheimer Society of Canada is predicting the number of Canadians living with dementia to jump from 564,000 to 937,000 in the next 13 years), finding ways to help people be independent and live productive lives in their own communities is only going to become more important.
