June 25, 2014

Kiama announced as pilot site in bold new plan to create dementia-friendly communities

The NSW South Coast town of Kiama will be the pilot site for a new project aimed at creating dementia-friendly communities throughout Australia.

The initiative, a collaboration between the University of Wollongong’s Global Challenges Program, Alzheimer’s Australia and Kiama Municipal Council, has the potential to change the way people with dementia interact within their social and physical environments.

Approximately 320,000 Australians currently have dementia, with the incidence of the disease set to balloon to almost one million people by 2050.

Lead researcher Dr Lyn Phillipson from the University of Wollongong said Kiama’s significant age profile and the enthusiasm of the local council meant it was the perfect pilot site for the project. Dr Phillipson said the project challenged the notion that people with dementia cannot lead lives where they can feel included and supported to achieve the best quality of life.

“People with dementia often feel socially isolated and experience stigma and discrimination after their diagnosis. Environments have also not often been designed in a way that supports the independence of people with dementia, so we will need to see a shift in both the social and physical environments in which we live,” Dr Phillipson said.

The project corresponds with Kiama Council’s aim of designing and developing the type of local environments that support and enhance health and wellbeing. It is estimated that around 1200 people in Kiama are living with dementia, with that number to reach approximately 3700 by 2050. The multidisciplinary initiative brings together researchers from a range of fields, including medicine, social science, and engineering, to present a holistic approach to the challenge of dementia-friendly communities.

 “We need to rise to the challenge of becoming dementia-friendly, whether that be in the way we build homes, transport systems or hospitals, or in the way we deliver services in shops and banks," Dr Phillipson said. 

The University of Wollongong’s Global Challenges Program is a major research initiative designed to harness the expertise of world-class researchers to solve complex, real-world problems.

More information: globalchallenges.uow.edu.au

Media contact: Dr Lyn Phillipson is available for interviews. Please contact India Lloyd, Global Challenges Marketing and Communications Officer, +61 488 456 050 or india@uow.edu.au.