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In the U.S., the Alzheimer’s Organization reports that an estimated 5.2 million Americans suffer from dementia and more than half of their caregivers struggle with high emotional stress.

Writing in the Fraser Coast Chronicle in northeastern Australia, Kay Stroud presents a hopeful look at helping those suffering from dementia in an article entitled, “Care can transform lives of dementia sufferers and carers.”

Here are two excerpts:

“Each time we approach a deeply forgetful person with a kind tone of voice, a reassuring facial expression, and call them by name with a smile we are participating in an intervention that is as significant as any biotechnical one of which I am aware”, writes Prof Stephen Post, Professor of Preventive Medicine and Founding Director of the Center for Medical Humanities, Compassionate Care and Bioethics at Stony Brook University, USA.

At the Compassion, Spirituality and Health Conference held in Adelaide in July, Post told delegates that “there is not one person who can’t be reached on a spiritual level”.

Recommended reading: Care can transform lives of dementia sufferers and carers.