One Kenton: newest long-term care home in Toronto for Alzheimer’s patients
Excerpted from an interview with Robert Walker, communications director of One Kenton, a B’nai Brith residence in North York for seniors with Alzheimer’s.
Excerpted from an interview with Robert Walker, communications director of One Kenton, a B’nai Brith residence in North York for seniors with Alzheimer’s.
Though some people diagnosed with dementia may be apprehensive about joining, Elizabeth Davison and her staff employ a variety of techniques to help patients decide to give the program a try. “Sometimes to get them in there we’ll say ‘Why don’t you come for a cup of tea and we’ll see if you like it?’… We really try and promote that club atmosphere”
Technological innovation is helping some families in the GTA keep track of where their loved ones with Alzheimer’s are, from a GPS wristband in York Region called Project Lifesaver, to a special colour-coded MedicAlert bracelet. They are also using smartphones that incorporate geofencing, which is a software that administers and alerts the families of the individual when the tracked person leaves his or her arranged boundaries.
More cases of wandering Alzheimer’s patients are appearing in the news. And experts are predicting the number of people in Ontario with Alzheimer’s to rise dramatically soon. Now a police department in the GTA is offering a new program to keep these at risk people safer. Observer TV News’ Jennifer Lee reports.
One day before the federal health minister’s Oct. 1 announcement that Canada is working on a national strategy on dementia, a high-profile Ontario politician said government is “acting far too slowly.”
The federal government announced on Wednesday, Oct. 1 that it is in the “early stages” of developing a national strategy for dementia. But with no definitive money pledged, no allocation of funds, and no timeline provided, the announcement by the federal Minister of Health, Rona Ambrose, is too little, too late for the Basdeo family of Vaughan, Ontario.