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List of dementia information sheets  pdf

DEMENTIA

Dementia is characterised by a decline in mental function that leads to significant impairment of physical, mental and social functioning.
Dementia has over 150 known causes but is predominately due to Alzheimer's Disease or multiple small strokes. More tan 50% of high care or nursing home residents have dementia.
Dementia affects 5-6% of' people aged 65 years and the percentage rises with advancing age with over 25% over 80 years suffering from Alzheimer's disease or other severe dementia.
Diagnosis of dementia involves mental, physical and social assessment. There are currently no cures for dementia and appropriate clinical intervention and community services are important to help the patient and family live through the course of the illness.

GUIDELINES
NSW Government's Action Plan on Dementia 1995-1999, ISBN 0 7310 4935 7. Australia's Councils of Social Services. Tel: (02) 9211 2599, Fax: (02) 9281 1968, email: info@ncoss.org.au  (see Web Sites).

A wide variety of publications are available from the Commonwealth Department Health and Aged Care.Tel: 1800 500 853 (see Web Sites)

USEFUL CONTACTS
Alzheimer's Association of NSW. Tel: 1800 639 331 for the Carers Helpline or more information about Associations in other States. (see Web Sites).
Centre for Education and Research on Ageing has information about education and training, including training manuals for residential care workers (see Web Sites).
Dementia Services Development Centre. Tel: (02) 9825 5081, Fax: (02) 9825 5090, email: bcalverley@dementia.com.au  (see Web Sites).
National Ageing Research Institute. Tel: (03) 9389 7148, Fax: (03) 9387 4030, email: info@nari.unimelb.edu.au  (see Web Sites).

RESOURCES
The organizations listed under useful Contacts also provide a variety of resources such as fact sheets, guides, booklets, videos and so

Information supplied Current Therapeutics, September 1999 - Fact Sheet

Last update 29 September, 2010