Dementia: What You Need to Know: A Guide for People With Dementia, and Their Caregivers

Description

Thorough and compassionate information about dementia and Alzheimers for caregivers and people with early dementia. As the population continues to age, so too the numbers of people with dementia and Alzheimers grow. Inevitably, it will affect everyone in some way ...as sufferers, or as carers, or as part of the wide circle of family, friends, professional and voluntary workers needed to support the main caregiver. The effects of dementia spread far into the community. Based on Dr Chris Perkins' acclaimed book The New Zealand Dementia Guide, first published in 2004, this is a completely revised and updated edition. This comprehensive book has been written to give people the information they need to understand and come to terms with this illness, and cope with the changes that occur as the disease takes its course. It explains what dementia is, the different forms it takes, how and where to get help, diagnostic tests, treatment and medication, and the services available. It examines the issues involved in both caring for a sufferer at home, and when the time comes to choose residential care. It is difficult for carers to achieve the right balance of reality and hope. Dementia can be a grim condition, which progressively deprives people of the attributes they value. But in this book, old-age psychiatry specialist Dr Chris Perkins aims to help caregivers at all levels deal with it with acceptance and compassion, offering humane and respectful care to people with dementia.

Dr Chris Perkins (FRANZCP), author of The New Zealand Dementia Guide and Dementia: What you need to know - a guide for people with dementia and their caregivers, trained at Otago Medical School and worked as a GP in Wellington and Thames, before training in psychiatry in Hamilton and Auckland.Since qualifying, Chris has worked mainly in old-age psychiatry in both the public and private sectors. She holds a Diploma of Professional Ethics, is Director of The Selwyn Centre for Ageing and Spirituality, and works part-time as a locum around New Zealand. Chris is chair of the National Dementia Cooperative (ndc.hiirc.org.nz/) and on the Board of Alzheimer's NZ. She has recently researched spiritual care in dementia units and continues to speak at conferences and other gatherings in New Zealand and overseas.