Our team has been working hard on content requests and improving the system based on user feedback. We are grateful for your feedback as it helps us to improve to better support more people caring for and living with dementia. Our latest updates include:
Topic update: “Falls, mobility and movements with dementia” including new care strategies on mobility and movements
New Section: “Wanting to exit a moving vehicle”, providing tips on how to manage this, although it may not be common, but it is a high risk behaviour
New Section: “When not to travel independently” which provides suggestions on when the person shouldn’t travel alone anymore
Section updates: Lewy body disease, Parkinson’s disease dementia and more, to highlight some various care strategies for specific types of dementia
Section updates: on grief, loss and emotional well-being, to include grief and loss specific care strategies and referrals, in addition to existing emotional well-being resources.
Our latest Contributor Award goes to Rui. Instead of keeping the gift voucher himself, Rui generously donated his Contributor Award $50 gift voucher to another non-for-profit dementia care organisation. We would like to call this out as a heartwarming gesture and we thank you for paying it forward!
Note: Please refresh your browser to see the updates.
Content updates
Topic update: “Falls, mobility and movements with dementia”
Recognising the importance of mobility and movements in people living with dementia, we have updated our original “Falls and dementia” Topic to “Falls, mobility and movements with dementia”.
The new Topic has added care strategies and suggestions to support the person to be more mobile and independent for as long as possible, so they can enjoy the life they wish.
You explore this Topic in the "More Topics" tab (CARER app) or "All info" tab (PRO app), or search using keywords such as "mobility", "movements", "falls" etc.
New Section: "Wanting to exit a moving vehicle"
We often take traveling in a vehicle for granted because we have been doing it since when we were young. But it can be a challenging experience for some people living with dementia.
As a result, we have curated a new Section “Wanting to exit a moving vehicle” to help.
You can explore the Section within the Topic "Driving and transport with dementia" from the "More Topics" tab (CARER app) or "All info" tab (PRO app), or search using keywords like "exit" or "vehicle".
New Section: "When not to travel independently"
Following the new Section on existing a moving vehicle and requests from our users, we have curated a new Section, “When not to travel independently” under the same Topic.
This recognises that at some point in the person’s life, independent travel may pose more of a risk than the benefit it can bring. So knowing when to stop can be very helpful in managing risks.
Find it under the Topic "Driving and transport with dementia" in the "More Topics" tab (CARER app) or "All info" tab (PRO app), or search using keywords like "travel", “independently”, “alone” etc.
Section updates on Lewy body disease, Parkinson's disease dementia, vascular dementia and more
Both the My Dementia Companion apps are designed to include strategies and suggestions to support all carers and people living with different types of dementia through their dementia journey. As we have grown with more users, we have decided to be a bit more specific with our curated resources.
We have built on existing resources, added more suggestions and linked up relevant Sections for specific types of dementia. This includes the higher prevalence of speech-related challenges with frontotemporal dementia, movement-related challenges with Lewy body disease and Parkinson’s disease dementia, heathy living suggestions with vascular dementia, and more.
They are embedded through the whole dementia journey, so you can find them by searching for the relevant keywords.
Section updates on grief, loss and emotional well-being
To recognise the emotional burden and challenges that a carer goes through with a loved one living with dementia, we have included care strategies on emotional well-being, referral suggestions for counseling services, and much more.
Following feedback, we have updated all relevant Sections to specifically highlight grief and loss, including grief-specific counseling hotlines.
You can find them throughout the whole dementia journey by searching keywords such as "grief” or "loss".
Other updates
As we constantly update our curated resources, we have made hundreds of other updates in addition to the above, including further distinguishing carer payments, carer supplements and carer allowances, and many more.
Note: minor updates are not documented here, such as some wording changes, URL changes, reference updates etc.
Paying it forward
As you may be aware, our last Contributor Award winner was Rui, who was given a $50 gift voucher for numerous constructive suggestions and feedback!
As a passionate aged care professional, Rui has very generously donated his voucher to another non-for-profit organisation, Caladenia Dementia Care, in recognition of their contribution to dementia care and My Dementia Companion.
We thank you so much for your generous gesture Rui!!
To learn more about this Award, please click here.
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