Physiological changes in the body mean that everybody’s eyesight deteriorates slowly but surely over their lifetime. People over 75 require twice as much light to see comfortably than normal lighting standards require, and nearly 4 times as much as an average 20 year old.

Add to this the challenges that dementia throws at you, such as difficulties with spatial awareness, problems adjusting to contrasts of light, and fear of falling, and the need for clear bright light becomes obvious.

Simply increasing the level of light can therefore make a very real difference to a person’s comfort and ease of life.

Here are our suggestions for 5 easy ways to flood your home with light...

Check your light bulbs!

Make sure you use bulbs of the maximum wattage that each of your light fittings will safely take. Now is not the time for dim, mood lighting, and remember that older energy saving lightbulbs that you may have had for several years lose their luminosity over time, (as well as often being very slow to brighten up) so it may well be useful to change them even if they are, technically, still working fine.

Modern LED bulbs give out a good clear light, and because they work on a very low wattage, can prove an effective way to increase the amount of light your lamp, wall light or chandelier can generate.

Consider replacing some of your light fittings.

Replacing a single pendant fitting with a 3 arm chandelier, or a 3 arm arm chandelier with a 5 arm one needn’t be expensive but could make a significant difference to the amount of light given out.

Add a lamp or angle-poise light.

This could brighten a dark corner and help prevent potential trips or falls, or provide specific task lighting where it is needed to aid focus and concentration.

Investigate the use of light sensors.

An increasing range of sensors are now available. Some provide the reassurance of allowing you to leave the electric lights on all the time, ensuring there will always be an adequate supply of light, with the sensor simply switching the lights off if the natural light reaches a required level.

Other sensors are motion operated which could be useful to light specific pathways such as a dark hallway and up the stairs, or the way from the bedroom to the bathroom.

Maximize natural daylight.

Daylight helps you produce the hormone melatonin which is responsible for setting your internal body clock, making it easier to sleep at night. In older age, and particularly in those with dementia, production of melatonin is reduced, which is why people with dementia often turn night into day. Increasing exposure to daylight is therefore a good thing. Clean the glass in you windows, remove obstacles and vegetation that may be blocking light entering the window from outside, and remove heavy blinds and/or curtains that obscure the window inside.

If direct sunlight produces annoying glare, simple lightweight net curtains can solve the problem without reducing the light. They also have the added advantage of preventing the glass in the windows becoming like a mirror at night, which can be disorientating for someone with dementia, reducing the chance of them misinterpreting their own reflection and becoming upset.

Professor June Andrews has an international reputation for her work in dementia research and development of methods to improve care for those living with the condition. Our suggestions here about ways to improve lighting levels in the home are taken from her most recent publication "Dementia : The One Stop Guide" .
Click here for a full book review.

“LIFE goes on – dementia is not a death sentence, it’s a life sentence,” says Sandy Read firmly. "Sometimes I get angry and frustrated but I don’t dwell on it. I’m just grateful for every day.”

YOLO is the brainchild of Lynda Hughes, dementia programme manager at SEQOL, Rachel Cockbill, dementia support worker at Alzheimer’s Society and Esther Jones, an occupational therapist with AWP, the region’s mental health service.

Together they were looking for ways to put patients and carers at the forefront of dementia care in Swindon, and allow them to set the agenda for local services and charities.

Dementia is an umbrella term for a set of symptoms including memory loss, difficulties with thinking, problem-solving or language and impaired judgement. It occurs when the brain is damaged, by diseases such as Alzheimer’s or a series of strokes.

Making Swindon a dementia-friendly town

Top of the agenda for YOLO is making Swindon a dementia-friendly place. This means encouraging shops, businesses and the local authority to rollout adequate signage and consider the difficulties sufferers face every day.

Most people think of dementia as affecting memory only, but it also impacts the way people perceive the world around them, including their sense of orientation, sight or spatial awareness.

“I have to have someone to go around Swindon with me because I get lost, but better signage would help,” explains Sandy, 69, who was diagnosed with dementia six years ago.

“My problem is public toilets – they tell you the way in but not the way out. I’ve got stuck many times, it’s stressful.

“What’s also dangerous is escalators. You don’t know if they’re going up or down. Better signage would not just help people with dementia but people with disabilities of any kind.”

An estimated 2,280 people are living with dementia in Swindon and nearly 7,000 in Wiltshire. As the population ages, the figure is only expected to grow over the next decade.

Changing attitudes to dementia

Encouraging a more upbeat approach to dementia – while not underrating the devastating impact of the condition – is another of YOLO’s goals.

While patients and their families face undeniable challenges, YOLO members are determined to show, through their own experience, that it is possible to lead a fulfilling life despite the relentless progression of the disease.

“I want to reassure people that although it’s not a pleasant diagnosis you still carry on,” says Harry Davis, 60, from Haydon Wick who was diagnosed five years ago.

“I believe that TV doesn’t portray the full experience. A lot of the adverts show someone who is very old sat in a chair. It doesn’t show the other side, when you’ve got early onset and you’re trying to lead as normal a life as possible.”

Lynda agrees: “It’s about changing perspective, it’s not all about loss. It’s a time like any other in your life to enjoy friendship, to experience new things. It’s a time for joy and happiness.

“We want to promote a less fearful view of dementia, and that’s where service users come into it.”

Community Involvement

To that effect, the group will be looking to visit schools and businesses and hold talks and training sessions.

It is all part of the open dialogue YOLO is hoping to create around memory loss in Swindon.

“People don’t want to talk about it much,” says YOLO member Ana Maria Wright, whose husband Thomas, 74, was diagnosed with dementia 10 years ago.

“They think they are going to catch it, so to speak. It’s like it used to be with mental health back in the day.

“They think when you’re diagnosed your life is finished.

“It’s not easy but life goes on, when you’re diagnosed you just have to adapt to it and your family does the same.”

YOLO co-founder Esther Jones, who works at the Forget Me Not Centre in Park South, says: “A lot of the services are quite reactive, by the time people come to Forget Me Not, for example, they have quite developed symptoms.

“It’s about being proactive and almost preventative in a way by raising awareness of how to live well with dementia before it’s progressed.

“It’s about making people’s lives easier. Your life doesn’t stop when you are diagnosed.”

The extent of the task ahead is enormous but YOLO members are far from daunted.

The Alzheimer's Society launched its 'Fix Dementia Care'campaign at a parliamentary event last week to gather the support of MPs from across the political spectrum.

​The campaign is aimed at improving the standard of dementia care in hospitals, after a recent investigation by the charity uncovered shocking variations between hospitals in England, along with too many examples of dangerous and inadequate care.

The investigation, which involved FOI (Freedom of Information) requests to NHS Trusts in England and a survey of over 570 people affected by dementia to gather first-hand testimony of dementia care in hospital, found too many people with dementia are falling while in hospital, being discharged at night or being marooned in hospital despite their medical treatment having finished.

The survey revealed that in 2014-15:

• 28% of people over the age of 65 who fell in hospital had dementia - but this was as high as 71% in the worst performing hospital trust.
• In 68 trusts that responded to the FOI (41%), 4,926 people with dementia were discharged between the hours of 11pm and 6am.
• In the worst performing hospitals, people with dementia were found to be staying five to seven times longer than other patients over the age of 65.

With approximately a quarter of hospital beds occupied by people with dementia, the Alzheimer's Society estimates that millions of pounds of public money is currently being wasted on poor dementia care and is therefore calling on hospitals to be more transparent and accountable to their patients.

As part of the campaign, Alzheimer's Society is making the following recommendations to fix dementia care:

• All hospitals to publish an annual statement of dementia care, which includes feedback from patients with dementia, helping to raise standards of care across the country
• The regulators, Monitor and the Care Quality Commission to include standards of dementia care in their assessments

Jeremy HughesChief Executive Alzheimer's       Society                 

Good dementia care should never be a throw of the dice – yet people are forced to gamble with their health every time they are admitted to hospital.

Poor care can have devastating, life-changing consequences. Starving because you can’t communicate to hospital staff that you are hungry, or falling and breaking a hip because you’re confused and no-one’s around to help, can affect whether you stand any chance of returning to your own home or not.

“We must urgently put a stop to the culture where it’s easier to find out about your local hospital finances than the quality of care you’ll receive if you have dementia. We are encouraging everyone to get behind our campaign to improve transparency and raise the bar on quality.”

The event at Parliament was well attended by 170 MPs and policy makers, and attracted some high profile support. Shadow Foreign Secretary Hilary Benn, Mental Health Minister Alistair Burt, Shadow Home Secretary Andy Burnham and Labour’s former deputy leader Harriet Harman were all among the attendees.

To read more of the statistics from the report visit the Alzheimer's Society website

Trowbridge-based firm Priority IT is refurbishing second-hand computers and offering them to the public in return for a donation to Alzheimer’s Support.

The charity runs day clubs, home support and a wide range of community activities for people living with dementia in Wiltshire.

Priority IT managing director Kieran Thomas said: “We used to get all old customer equipment collected and recycled by a local provider. But our apprentice Adam Townsend came to me with the idea of doing something good with the computers, rather than just giving them away for recycling.

“So after some thought we came up with the idea of refurbishing the best computers and then offering them for a donation to Alzheimer’s Support, which does such valuable work locally.”

Alzheimer’s Support chief executive officer Babs Harris added: “We are delighted that Priority IT is launching this project in aid of our charity. The funds raised will be used to support people with dementia and their family carers here in Wiltshire. This is a fantastic initiative that will benefit everyone involved.”

"What on earth do oranges have to do with Alzheimer's?....." was my initial thought when I came across this video clip.
But I have to admit it caught my attention. And to that purpose, it's doing its job nicely.

Alzheimer's Research UK are out to tackle head-on the myth that dementia is just a normal part of ageing, and instead increase public understanding that dementia is caused by physical diseases that, with greater research, can be tackled and perhaps eventually cured.

To get their message across in the clearest, most thought provoking way, they've teamed up with award-winning actor, Christopher Eccleston, along with Aardman Animation (the makers of Wallace and Gromit), and creative agency ais London to create this 90 second film.

The film was launched last week on Facebook, as part of a new digital campaign by the charity, with people being urged to #sharetheorange.

“Animation is a great way of communicating difficult messages, delivering them in an easily understandable and memorable way', says Heather Wright, Executive Producer at Aardman. "Using the orange as a metaphor for the brain makes this film very strong because the idea and the execution work perfectly together.”

The hope is that by making the condition easier to understand, the public will get behind the campaign to find a cure within our lifetime, in much the same way people have rallied to the support of Cancer , Heart disease, and AIDS charities in recent years.

Christopher Eccleston, whose father died following a 14 year battle with vascular dementia, and is a staunch supporter of the charity stresses...

DEMENTIA clinic waiting times have dramatically reduced to two months after a major review into mental health services in the area.

Patients waiting for an appointment at the Victoria Centre-based Memory Services clinic, run by Avon and Wiltshire Mental Health Partnership NHS Trust (AWP), had been forced to endure a nine month waiting list before the strategic review.

In the last two months, waiting list times have been slashed bringing welcome Christmas news for the 29 people currently on the list who now have appointments scheduled for early next year.

In another positive outcome for the trust, people with severe mental health conditions are now able to be treated in the local area. Previously they had been sent as far afield as London and York to receive specialist care.

Newlands Anning, Interim Managing Director at AWP said the initiative to reduce waiting times was a result of staff being moved around and the appointment of a new consultant psychiatrist.

“A complete assessment reviewed the medical input in the memory services centre and a medical assessment reduced the delay,” he said

“Resource has been moved around, and a consultant psychiatrist brought in to speed up appointment times.

AWP had increased its dementia diagnosis rate by 28 percent in the space of four months, placing it among the top four trusts in the country.

But as rates increased waiting times for appointments at their Victoria Centre-based Memory Services clinic had risen.

In January 2013 NHS Swindon pledged to cut waiting times for appointments at memory clinics. But almost three years later patients were still facing waits of nine months to see dementia specialists.

“We took all of that feedback on board, took it as a priority and invested and utilised all of our resources and it is really because of that that we have proved successful,” Newlands said, and added that the trust was now on course to hit a target of four weeks by March 2016.

“It looks positive, things are moving in the right direction and our projections are we will be hitting four weeks within three months," he said.

“The patient feedback has been incredible, people have been surprised. We’re dedicated to providing the best service locally as possible, despite financial constraints that trusts across the country are facing.

"All the teams across Swindon have worked phenomenally hard to focus on the pressures of accessing mental health services and improving patient flow. I am very proud of what has been achieved and that we now offer a much improved patient experience."

Source: This is Wiltshire.co.uk 20/12/15