Many look at old age as the sunset years and shroud them in a golden mist, but for many older New Zealanders, time on Earth ends in pain, misery, and disillusionment.
For most people, ageing means a slow and uncomfortable deterioration in physical and mental condition. In the worst cases, people totally lose the ability to move or think and disappear into a mumbling incoherent demented mess.
Comedian Bob Hope said, “you have to be brave to grow old”.
Despite some hopeful developments and discoveries over the past 10 years, many things to do with the brain, little is fully understood about dementia, but the undeniable fact is dementia devastates the lives of its victims and leaves grieving family and friends mourning.
The results of 250 known types of dementia are that they are irreversible, however there are preventative techniques which can delay or even hold this damage.
To assist people in better understanding of this devastating disease, New Plymouth, Positive Ageing, Grey Power and Age Concern are holding a free public seminar in the New Plymouth District
Message from Lance Girling-Butcher