Lighting up lives dimmed by dementia

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.

www.ardsikolkata.org