There are estimated to be over 421,000 people living with dementia in Australia. ADI’s World Alzheimer Report 2024: Global changes in attitudes to dementia found that people living with dementia and carers consistency report higher levels of loneliness compared to the general population. In this blog, ADI Member, Dementia Australia highlight the launch of their new podcast ‘Hold the Moment’, aiming to reduce loneliness and social isolation.
Despite the growing number of people diagnosed with dementia, we know from Australian and international research that globally dementia is a poorly understood condition.
This lack of knowledge and understanding about dementia can lead to people with dementia, their families and carers experiencing stigma, discrimination and social isolation.
In August Dementia Australia released a new podcast called Hold the Moment that aims to alleviate this loneliness and social isolation people living with dementia experience.
Already there have been 50,000 plays/downloads with listeners from all over the world.
The podcast was developed by people living with dementia and is co-hosted by Dementia Australia Dementia Advocate Jim Rogers, who lives with younger onset dementia, and Dementia Australia Ambassador and journalist Hamish Macdonald, whose father had dementia with Lewy bodies and Parkinson’s.
Throughout seven episodes Jim and Hamish explore with people living with dementia, carers and health experts the experiences of being diagnosed, managing sleep disturbance and hallucinations, travelling, staying active and managing relationships.
Their stories are honest, raw, sometimes harrowing, heartwarming and at times heartbreaking.
Mr Rogers said:
I felt very lonely after my dementia diagnosis. It’s pretty scary, scary territory – being able to hear about others’ experiences in a positive way on a podcast like this would have been an amazing thing for me when I was diagnosed.
In the World Alzheimer’s Report: Global changes in attitudes to dementia 2024, results from the world’s largest global survey on attitudes to dementia reveal stigma around the condition is worsening among the general public and even healthcare professionals.
Recent survey results released by Dementia Australia also found that a third of respondents suggest people avoid or exclude their loved one with dementia, while nearly half the survey respondents perceive people don’t keep in touch as they used to.
With this in mind, we need mass reach public health dementia awareness and prevention campaigns, improved diagnosis and support and a continued focus on mobilising communities around the world to be more dementia friendly.
At a grass-roots level, we also need people in our communities to actively learn more and initiate candid conversations about dementia, raising awareness and reducing stigma.
Jim and Hamish are joined on the podcast by Dementia Australia Dementia Advocates Heather Cooper, Catherine Daskalakis, Pam Eade, Juanita Hughes, Ann Pietsch, Anthony Pollock and Kevyn Morris – who all live with different forms of dementia, and Dom O’Leary, who cared for her father with dementia.
They are also joined by Professor Nola Ries, from the Faculty of Law at the University of Technology Sydney and co-founder of the Dementia Law Network, Associate Professor Stephanie Rainey-Smith, a neuroscientist from Murdoch University and Kristin, an Advisor from the National Dementia Helpline.
Listen to and follow Hold the Moment wherever you find your favourite podcasts. or on our website dementia.org.au/podcast.
Dementia Australia acknowledges and appreciates the support of the Australian Government for this initiative. Hold the Moment is produced by Deadset Studios.