BS : Lighting up lives dimmed by dementia : Sept 18 , 2007
Lighting up lives dimmed by dementia
Pradipta Mukherjee / Kolkata September 18, 2007
Old age can be perilous for most of us. Dementia, a dreadful disease which
wipes out the memory and leaves the victims totally helpless, unable to
reason, remember or react can strike at this age.
Often, the victim struggles to remember even his name, or the people and
things around him and needs a reintroduction to life.
ARDSI Kolkata, an NGO affiliated to the Federation of National Alzheimer’s
Associations around the world, provides support to several of those who are
lost in the grip of dementia and Alzheimer’s Disease. Most of the victims
are over 60 years of age.
According to Nilanjana Maulik, secretary, ARDSI Kolkata, “While there is no
cure yet, much can be done to improve the quality of life of patients and
their families. Good care is the best medicine.” ARDSI has been doing just
that. ARDSI Kolkata, in the last eight years of its operations, has been
able to serve 525 patients. One of them was 74 year old Arup Ganguly (name
changed). Although the disease is hereditary, Ganguly had no such family
history.
Ganguly was examined by a neurologist on February 14 with complaints of
progressive gait difficulty, memory impairment and personality changes,
which had been plaguing for over a period of 3 years.
When ARDSI Kolkata was informed about Ganguly’s condition, a trained person
was sent to Ganguly’s house three afternoons a week, four hours per
afternoon.
ARDSI Kolkata also started counselling Ganguly’s wife regularly on effective
behaviour management which eventually made it easier for her to tackle the
problems she faced Another case is that of Jhimli whose mother sought help
under the NGO’s programme.
Jhimli had given up on her her mother after several years of caring when
ARDSI stepped in.
“We were stressed, irritated and exhausted. It was then that we heard about
ARDSI Kolkata’s carer support group meetings once every month,” says Jhimli.
Jhimli and the members of her family took turns to attend the meetings.
The monthly support groups offered the family and the patient the
opportunity to meet others, to share experiences, learn more about caring
and perhaps make new friends.
Jhimli added, “Not everyone can be a caregiver – the job really stinks –
because you are dealing with a disease that cannot be diagnosed, treated or
cured. When you are dealing with Alzheimer’s disease you are the most
important part of the equation. If you burn out – everything falls apart.
So, it’s best to learn about the disease, find out what’s available in the
community and ask for help.”
Maulik said, “So far we used to go to the patient’s house. We are now
planning to set up a daycare centre, for which we are looking for space and
funds. Initially we would be able to accommodate close to 15 patients for
approximately 8 hours every day.”
The initiatives of ARDSI Kolkata, so far, has survived on limited donations,
sporadic memberships and services from the four volunteers who work here.
The NGO, at present, is lobbying with the government and also wishes to
involve the corporate sector.
Publication : BS; Section : Social Enterprise; Pg : 13; Date : 18/9/07
URL :
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