KMC Hospital Attavar Holds Lecture on Caregiving in Dementia ‘Remember me’
Mangaluru: The Department of Psychiatry, KMC Hospital Attavar held a guest lecture on ‘Caregiving in Dementia with the theme “Remember Me”, at Sushrutha Hall, KMC Attavar here on September 22.
The programme began with an invocation. Professor and HOD Department of Psychiatry Dr Keshav Pai welcomed the gathering.
The programme was inaugurated by the Medical Superintendent KMC Hospitals by lighting the traditional lamp along with other dignitaries on the dais.
Geriatric Specialist of KMC Hospital Mangaluru Dr Sheetal Raj, in her keynote address, said, “We use this moment to create awareness among the people about Dementia and with an aim to improve the life of those who have dementia. With the theme ‘Remember me’, we need to focus on early diagnosis and how to diagnose this disease at an early stage. The Alzheimer’s disease is not only the loss of memory but as of now, there is no cure for this disease. Alzheimer’s disease is the most common form of dementia which is an incurable degenerative disease. This disease changes the person and the person does not remain the same. Dementia is the disease of the brain which affects the mind. It is a physical disease of the brain but manifests in the form of mental disease. If you find anybody behaving differently do refer them to your doctor. We are trying help people who have dementia.”
Dr Sheetal Raj further said, “We always talk about no cure for the disease but we can do several things to prevent dementia. Keep your appointment with your doctors, keep your diabetes under control, check your blood pressure if you have hypertension. If anyone is diagnosed with cardiac problems make sure the disease is tested, treated and always kept in check. If you do this the health of your brain will directly be proportional to the health of your heart. Cardiovascular safety is at the core of prevention of dementia. Another feature is Lifestyle, which of course is exercise, having good friends and maintaining them will take you a long way forward in keeping yourself free from dementia. We should still have hope that we can prevent people from suffering from dementia. We pay attention to peoples intelligence, reasoning and rationality. We very rarely use our intelligence and rationality, we are almost acting on emotion, impulse and feeling. Those who have Dementia do not lose his/her emotions, they remain creative and they still perform well. Music is the best bridge to connect people with dementia.”
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While concluding Dr Sheetal Raj said, the word Dementia is disheartening instead of calling it as Dementia let us call it “deep forgetfulness” since it is less painful. It is my suggestion to those who serve in this field. All is not lost and it’s not so bad with Dementia”.
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In his inaugural speech, Dr Anand Venugopal said, “Continuous engagement and activities will keep us active in life. Making friends and keeping in touch with them will help us to keep our memory sharp. A person with Alzheimer’s disease may put things in unusual places. They may lose things and be unable to go back over their steps to find them again. This may occur more frequently over time. Early diagnosis of Dementia will help in treating the patient. From the point of our hospitals, we are already in the process of starting the Alzheimer clinic functioning on the ground floor of our new building at Ambedkar Circle. It is a multi-disciplinary clinic with a multi-disciplinary team. Hope the clinic will help the people of Mangaluru.”
Assistant Professor Department of Psychiatry, Mahesh P S delivered the vote of thanks. Medical Director and Psychiatrist Department of Dr A V Baliga Memorial Hospital Udupi Dr P V Bhandary delivered the guest lecture. Prizes were distributed to the winners in the poster competition “Remember me.”