Middle-aged Alzheimer patients left in ‘vacuum’

Clare families of middle-aged Alzheimer patients are being left in a frustrating ‘vacuum’ due to the lack of dedicated long-stay public residential services in the region, a local charity has warned.

The Mid-West Alzheimer’s Association has revealed it is becoming increasingly difficult for Clare families, who are struggling to care for Alzheimer’s patients in their 40s and 50s because long-stay residential facilities are primarily geared towards those who are over 65 years of age.
Caitriona Lavelle, manager of the Waterman’s Lodge in Ballina, Killaloe said it is quite frightening for families who are trying to cope with a middle-aged person who is suffering from the early onset of dementia.
Apart from some respite and services in places like the Waterman’s Lodge, Ms Lavelle confirmed there is very little public services for Alzheimer patients under 65.
“They are too young to avail of day services for the over 65s. Old age psychiatry deals primarily with patients over 65. Unfortunately, these Alzheimer patients fall into a vacuum. We have patients with Alzheimer’s who are just 53 and 58 from the East Clare area who have received respite,” she said.
Her concern was shared by Mid-West Alzheimer Association manager, Martin Ryan, who noted that even though the Waterman’s Lodge was funded by the HSE, most of the funding in this area was for over 65s.
The Alzheimer Association is continually campaigning to get people diagnosed earlier to get families some help with the debilitating condition.
Mr Ryan noted there was no cure for dementia or Alzheimer’s and acknowledged the Health Service Executive needed to try and reconfigure its budgets, as this condition was becoming more prevalent at a younger age.
“The Alzheimer’s Association are a charity, we can only do so much, we get grant-aided to provide specific things, day care, respite, social clubs and home care. We have people stay four or five weeks in the Waterman’s Inn, we don’t have facilities to accommodate people longer than that.
“We have clients in their 40s and 50s in daycare and homecare settings. A lot of our campaigning is to identify families who have early onset of Alzheimer’s,” he said.
Integrated area services manager, Bernard Gloster, stressed the HSE had provided care for patients who were under 65 once it was deemed appropriate and met health regulations.
Acknowledging more dementia care specific public care services need to be developed into the future, he said the HSE contributed €1 million towards the capital cost of acquiring the Waterman’s Inn and were providing over €500,000 towards running costs annually.
“That is where we, in partnership with voluntary sector, buy or procure services.  There is public provision but it is in the guise of a voluntary organisation. There is no doubt it could be better. There are calls for long-stay specific dementia services in older people services and mental health services.
“That is something we would like to do more of. Whether we have capacity in our existing staff to progress this is questionable. We can do some but can’t do the amount we would like to do,” he said.