Estevan and area residents dealing with Alzheimer disease will soon have an important new resource to help them in their journey.
It was announced in May that thanks in part to new funding from the provincial government, the Alzheimer Society of Saskatchewan was expanding the First Link program to the southeast. The society has plans to set up a resource centre in Weyburn and will provide service to Estevan and other areas of the Sun Country Health Region.
Joanne Bracken, the CEO of the Alzheimer Society said First Link provides patients, caregivers or family members with information and support that can help them understand dementia and what they can expect as the disease progresses.
Until the past couple of years, the society has largely operated out of Saskatoon and Regina with each centre serving one half of the province. However, Bracken noted with Saskatchewan's population aging the society found they needed to have a bigger presence throughout the province.
That led to the opening of resource centres in communities such as Swift Current, Battleford, Prince Albert and Weyburn once they arrive at an agreement with Sun Country on office space.
"When somebody gets diagnosed with a dementia, often they are told their diagnosis but they are not given much information after that," Bracken said. "So they go home and they don't really understand the diagnosis and they don't understand what is happening to them. We really help them to understand that."
Bracken added that First Link is also an important resource for family members who are having a tough time with the diagnosis or might be dealing with someone who has yet to be diagnosed and is undergoing some noticeable changes.
"If we don't support that family caregiver, they end up having stress related issues or their own health suffers and instead of one patient, we have two patients."
Another component of First Link is to provide connections to and information about the health care services that are available. Bracken said Sun Country has identified dementia as a priority and the two groups are working together to help those in need.
"We help people understand what health care services are available and we follow up with them on a regular basis because dementia is progressive. We check in to see how they are doing; do they need to consider home care services or are they thinking about the long-term care decision? We have a learning series that we offer as well and a lot of that is delivered through TeleHealth and we tap into some local experts."
Bracken said First Link can also help patients and their families walk through some important first steps once a diagnosis is completed and help them avoid any pitfalls they may come across.
"Some people had already been living two years after the diagnosis and when we talk to them about some of the things they could do, they would say 'if we had come sooner we could have avoided this and this and this and this," she said. "You need to talk about wills and estates and getting your power of attorney in place and naming your healthcare proxy. It's important that people know about those things and do them early on.
"For people with dementia, it is really important that they have a say in how their healthcare goes and that really empowers them to be able to go and do that."
Bracken said they hope to have a First Link co-ordinator hired by the end of June and the office established in July. Until then, anyone interested in more information on First Link can contact the Alzheimer Society.
