ARDSI's Activities and its Services- Kerala, India.

The Main activities undertaken by the Society :

Day care
Domiciliary care
Memory Clinic
Geriatric Care Training
Awareness programs
Care givers’ meeting
Guidance and counseling
Research
Dementia Care Fund

DAY CARE :
ACTIVITIES IN THE DAY CARE CENTRE

Prayer
Light exercises
Listening to music, watching TV
Newspaper & book reading,
Gardening
Recreational & Educational activities.
Indoor games like chess, caroms, cards, ball passing, bowling etc.
Activities like drawing, painting, stitching, clay modeling etc.
Using life story books.
Aromatherapy: This involves making the patients smell spices, leaves and other materials, which may invoke pleasant, old memories thereby enhancing the faculty.
Orientation sessions.
Photographs of events are also displayed at the center.
Reminiscence therapy

DOMICILARY CARE SERVICES
On an average, now we are providing domiciliary services to 81 clients. Community Geriatric Nurses, CGN students and the newly identified community workers provide the care services. The nurses visit each person with dementia once in a fortnight. These visits help to increase social interaction, to educate caregivers, to provide counseling and to provide necessary nursing care for the patients.

MEMORY CLINIC :
The memory clinic in Indira Gandhi Co-operative Hospital, Kadavanthra, Cochin, is functioning every day from 10.00 a.m. to 1.00 p.m. To apprise the facility of memory clinic, frequent visits by officials are made to nearby hospitals and clinics.

GERIATRIC CARE TRAINING PROGRAM :
In the academic year 2004 – 2005, 12 students underwent this training course. The duration of the course is 10 months. The syllabus for the course covers general nursing, community health and welfare and more specifically the challenges of geriatric nursing in the field of dementia. The Christian Medical Association accredits the course.

AWARENESS PROGRAMMES :
Regular awareness lectures about dementia are conducted in schools and colleges. Members of Kudumbashree, Anganwadi and other community workers were also included in the program. Notices, brochures, newsletters and other publications are distributed at frequent intervals among public. Also wide publicity is given through mass media. BPL Help lines are extensively used for dementia awareness programs.

CARE GIVERS’ MEETING :
We organize caregivers’ meetings at regular intervals. The meetings are conducted for the caregivers at the dementia care center. Formation of Support Group was discussed in the last meeting in addition to normal discussions. Such Support Group could act as care givers and offer their services working in the field of dementia.

GUIDANCE AND COUNSELING :
Counseling is provided to care givers on regular basis. Caregivers are encouraged to discuss their experiences while staff and Psychiatrist offer constructive advice at these meetings.

RESEARCH :
ARDSI launched the project in September 2004. Under the guidance of Dr. K Jacob Roy, Chairman ARDSI, Dr. S Shaji, Consultant Psychiatrist, ARDSI, and Dr. Mathew Abraham, Consultant Neurologist, ARDSI, a research program commenced with an aim to find out the prevalence of Dementia cases in Cochin Corporation, Ernakulam District. The research team includes10 community workers surveyors), 5 Community Geriatric Nurses lead by Ms Hena, the care manager. Sqn. Ldr. K. A. R. Nair (Rtd), Chief Co-Coordinator & Treasurer of ARDSI monitors the progress of the survey on a weekly basis.The community workers were identified and trained to conduct the survey. Their efficiency in conducting the survey as well as their willingness and ability to provide community care to the patients of dementia is being evaluated periodically.

Summary: Population screened 4899 Cases identified 125 Clients in day care 13 Clients availing home care 81 Total availing our services 94

DEMENTIA CARE FUND :
Concerted efforts are made to generate funds for dementia care services. Our main source is from funding agencies and donations. Committees have been formed to achieve better results.


ALZHEIMER’S AND RELATED DISORDERS SOCIETY OF INDIA (ARDSI)
Madavana Temple Road, Vennala P.O, Palarivattom, Cochin-682028, Kerala, India
Ph: 0484-2808088, Help line: 9846198471, 9846198786
E-mail: ucds@rediffmail.com, alzheimr@md2.vsnl.net.in, Web: www.alzheimerindia.in