Problem area dementia: help for caring relatives
Created: 10/01/2022 10:10 am
Presenting the new discussion group (from left): Arnd Walther, Anton Sedlmayr (board members of the Manfred-Funke-Hopfner-Foundation), Bianca Wallenta (Germeringer Insell), Sonja Thiele (senior care officer of the district) and Stefanie Weigl (senior care adviser in the district office).
© Hans short
Caring for people with dementia is a major challenge, especially for family members.
In order to give them support, a district-wide discussion group has now been set up on Germeringer Insel.
Germering - "Dementia, that's still undercover," says Arnd Walther, along with Anton Sedlmayr one of the two board members of the Manfred Funke Hopfner Foundation.
This has generally dedicated itself to the promotion of health care.
What Walther means with his statement: "Dementia only comes out very slowly from the area of the taboo subject, which one tends to hide."
In order to change that, the foundation is funding the technical support of the newly founded discussion group with 15,000 euros.
The circle is aimed at caregivers.
This can be the partner, daughter or son, another close relative or even the grandchild.
"Such a discussion group would then be cross-generational," explains the district senior citizen officer Sonja Thiele.
Inquiries are piling up
Above all, experiences should be exchanged.
The motto of the specialist day held in June, “Understanding, comprehending, integrating” dementia, is also to be understood as the guiding principle for the discussion group.
At the same time, according to Sonja Thiele, this specialist day provided the impetus to form the discussion group.
Stefanie Weigl, who is responsible for counseling for seniors in the district office, is pleased about this initiative: "The inquiries are piling up, the need is clearly there."
The discussion group will be supervised by Markus Proske, dementia consultant, humor therapist and author.
For Bianca Wallenta, head of the Germeringer Insel, there is a large majority: "It makes a lot of difference if you approach the topic with a pinch of humour." What sounds banal makes sense.
According to Walenta, Proske is able to break down possible inhibitions and promote discussion among the caring relatives.
The atmosphere in the rooms of the Café Zenja as the place of the discussion group should do the rest.
(
By the way: everything from the region is now also available in our regular
FFB newsletter.)
At the same time, the discussion group is intended to contribute to addressing the topic of dementia with less shyness in the public eye.
Therefore, according to Sonja Thiele, further steps are planned.
For example, the long-time managing director of the social service can imagine special training courses for tradespeople.
"So that they know about the signs of dementia." For example, "when shopping is done for the extended family, although it is known that such a family does not exist".
Not limited to Germeringer
But the discussion group, which is expressly not limited to Germeringer citizens, could also be expanded.
According to Sonja Thiele, another such group could be formed if there is a sufficient number of interested parties in the east or west of the district.
That could very well be the case.
As Thiele explained, corona regulations and the resulting seclusion often led to an increase in dementia.
"Isolation accelerates the issue," says Thiele.
also read
Oktoberfest premiere becomes springboard for young band – Wiesn landlord “shocked”
Parked up on the street: rescuers have to go to work on foot
It is also noted that volunteer work has declined.
During the peak of the pandemic, there were often no visits or help for fear of infection.
"It will be difficult to restore the level of trust that existed before Corona," Thiele suspects.
Creating trust is something the discussion group for relatives caring for people with dementia should make its contribution to.
(
Hans Kurz
l)
Events
The discussion groups take place every third Monday of the month in Café Zenja in the multi-generation house at Planegger Straße 9.
The first dates are on October 17th, November 21st and December 19th - from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m.
Registration is not required.
The district is accessible to all citizens of the district.
You can find more current news from the district of Fürstenfeldbruck at Merkur.de/Fürstenfeldbruck.
