PEOPLE with severe dementia can live well if they are treated with kindness and respect, says a visiting UK expert on ageing.
With the right support and care, even someone with severe dementia can experience a sense of wellbeing, says Professor Julian Hughes, who is on a national lecture tour for Alzheimer's Australia.
They need a healthy environment with a balance between their medical and emotional needs.
"If someone is nice to them. If somebody takes the time to talk or to simply show them some sort of compassion, that can instil a sense of wellbeing at that particular moment and over the course of their day," says Prof Hughes, who is pushing the idea of supportive care being a broader model than palliative care alone.
He wants people to think seriously about all stages of dementia and start planning their care as early as possible.
"It's individual. Some people will want to start planning and talking about things in a great deal of detail very early on. Others will wish to avoid discussions until later, but they have to recognise that they might not be able to take part in those discussions."
One of the easier subjects is financial planning, he says.
More difficult subjects include treatment and medical interventions in the terminal stages, and it is useful if a person is appointed to make decisions.
Some lawyers are becoming more proactive about this and are routinely encouraging advance care planning alongside the process of drawing up a will.
"This takes some of the emotion out of it," says Prof Hughes.
A key issue is the final stages of dementia, when people should think about whether investigations or treatments are likely to be effective or a burden.
"We want to do things that are helpful, but we do not want to over-investigate and over treat when it is not appropriate to do so.
"But if there is anything we can do to lessen a person's burden, let's do it. Let's not be tied down by some overarching philosophy that restricts what we do," he says.
The lectures, supported by Bupa Health Foundation, will feature Prof Hughes' latest paper, Models of Dementia Care: Person-Centred, Palliative and Supportive.
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