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SINGAPORE: Recognising the early warning signs of dementia could make a key difference to the person's quality of life. It allows the person's family to plan care management for the person, says the Health Promotion Board (HPB).
So HPB has launched a campaign to raise public awareness of the condition.
Tan Ewe Hoon, who is 88, was diagnosed with dementia eight years ago. But his 80-year-old wife Emily Tan has since found ways to cope with his condition.
She said: "He likes to get up in the middle of the night and ransack my drawers and everything. So I make a room for him to ransack. I put all the things that I really don't want - old books, old photos - in the drawer, in the cupboard, and then he will go there and ransack and that will keep him occupied for a few hours that I can have peace."
Her account may sound familiar to the family members of the 22,000 people in Singapore who suffer dementia.
To raise public awareness of the condition, HPB's campaign also features a short film by local director Royston Tan.
Royston said he was inspired by his friend's grandfather, who used to sell chickens but now suffers from dementia.
He said: "I went to the place (home) and what happened was (that) I saw them feeding the chickens in HDB (flat), I mean the invisible chickens. When I first saw it, I felt it was very, very touching, because rather than trying to correct the grandfather, he was actually partaking and joining in the whole experience of celebrating his life."
A short version of the film will air on MediaCorp Channel 8, Suria and Vasantham for two weeks from 26 September, while the full-length version will be available on YouTube.
Through the campaign, HPB hopes to educate caregivers to recognise the warning signs of dementia, such as memory loss that affects day-to-day functions, difficulty of doing familiar tasks and confusion about time and place.
To improve the quality of life for those suffering from dementia, HPB is developing a tool kit that would help caregivers engage them at home.
It is expected to contain items like card games and songs that the caregiver could sing with the person with dementia.
Sng Yan Ling, a psychologist at the Health Promotion Board, said: "For a person with dementia, the illness doesn't change the person inside. We want the caregiver to reach out to the person with dementia, make that connection with the person rather than try to change that person's behaviour."
The tool kit is expected to be available by the end of the year.
- CNA/ir
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