Video transcript

Victoria

I already have my hands full, but I really want to be there for my auntie to keep her at home with the family. Is there any support available for a person with dementia or for the family that care for them?

Dr Mark Wenitong

If you do have somebody that's close to you or a relative, a close relative that's got the early signs, there's a number of places you can get help. The Aboriginal Medical Services can provide that kind of holistic primary health care with a GP and the allied health team and understand the cultural issues.

They can then introduce you to a number of other agencies. There is the Age Care Assessment Team, the new federal government online age care portal, which is useful. And there's a number of 800 numbers as well where you can actually ring up and get help for specific issues as well.

So if the person who is affected has some behavioural issues and aggression and things like that, there are numbers that you can ring where you can have a talk to people about how to control that better and what kind of things to put in place.

Violent behaviours like Sundowner syndrome, when people that are affected with dementia can get a bit more confused late in the afternoon, early evening time. And what kind of things you can do about that.

So there is a fair bit of help around. It's a matter of accessing that. Sometimes for our communities we need interpreter services or aboriginal health workers and people like that who can actually help us to navigate that system, because it's not always easy to talk to people over the phone about those things.

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