Early care for people with dementia

The Health, Labor and Welfare Ministry plans to implement from next fiscal year measures to provide at-home care for people suffering from dementia to cope with the rapidly increasing number of people with the condition.  The new measures aim to enable people with dementia to live at home for as long as possible, by having teams of specialists visit their homes during the initial stages of the condition.  The ministry also hopes the measures will keep dementia sufferers from developing progressively worsening conditions that require long-term hospitalization.

Dementia refers to a typically progressive condition characterized by memory loss and deteriorated cognition due to the death or improper functioning of brain cells as a result of diseases or other causes.

The ministry plans to deploy these teams to about 4,000 nursing care consultation counters of local governments nationwide. The teams will visit the homes of elderly people who have shown symptoms of dementia, conduct interviews with them or family members and refer them to medical institutions if necessary. The teams also will help them improve their living conditions, making such changes as replacing gas stoves with electric ones, and offer psychiatric care for family members of dementia sufferers.- (The Yomiuri Shimbun)