Ont. dementia strategy a would be a great start: King

Springdale administrator applauds recent petition

Wednesday, July 9, 2014 — Deron Hamel

A petition was recently launched to encourage the Ontario government to create a provincewide dementia strategy, and while Maureen King says a national strategy is needed, the Springdale Country Manor administrator notes this is a “great start.”

The petition, which was spearheaded by Windsor-Tecumseh MPP Percy Hatfield and the Alzheimer Society of Windsor and Essex County, states that 200,000 Ontarians are living with dementia. The economic impact of the disease is expected to reach $15.7 billion by 2020.

The petition calls for a strategy that addresses primary health care, health promotion, illness prevention, caregiver support and investment research.

King says that while Canada needs a national dementia strategy, an Ontario strategy could serve as a Rosetta stone that other provinces could follow.

“Ultimately, I would like to see that tied up nationally, and wouldn’t it be nice if all the provinces had a basic concept of what a national plan should look like,” King tells The OMNIway.

“What a provincial plan needs to look like is how we’re going to address care as it progresses; community care, day care and long-term care. How that’s going to look (and) how we’re going to move through the system smoothly for people (with  dementia) because of their high needs and their sensitivity to change.”

Canada is the only G7 nation without a national dementia strategy. Britain, the United States, France, Germany, Italy and Japan all have national strategies.

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