Bruce on TV

Brucie

Registered User
Jan 31, 2004
12,413
0
near London
Hello everyone

thanks for your kind posts here!

Yesterday at the conference was manic - there was so much press interest, and that must be good! Friday it was the BBC at Jan's home, Monday it was the press conference, and ITN, and papers, news wires, etc. Yesterday, Channel 5, Daily Mail, Radio Berkshire [a live interview on air].

We can only hope that it all does some good.

For me, the high points were - obviously, being able to represent Jan - meeting Connie at the conference, meeting KenC from TP and his wife there, and finally, seeing Peter Ashley in action. Peter has dementia yet does a fantastic job of speaking and putting his messages across. He's a far better speaker than I am! :(

The point he made yesterday that will stick with me was the hell it is for him, having dementia. So often, those not caring for such a person at close quarters, may think "well, they don't really know, do they?". Peter made it clear that they do know, and very well too! Which is a bit of a horror to us as well, to have confirmed.
 

Tina

Registered User
May 19, 2006
420
0
Great job, Bruce, congratulations. I managed to listen to the interview on Radio 4. Thank you for all you're doing to raise awareness.
Tina
 

Margarita

Registered User
Feb 17, 2006
10,824
0
london
Brucie I must say I do admire your courage and the movement in moving forward with dementia, raising awareness that your gathering with being so open with your life , and every one ales you mention above .
Jan - meeting Connie at the conference, meeting KenC from TP and his wife there, and finally, seeing Peter Ashley in action. Peter has dementia yet does a fantastic job of speaking and putting his messages across.
 

Brucie

Registered User
Jan 31, 2004
12,413
0
near London
No, I don't know when - probably sometime in March. The journalist has promised to let me know and I will pass on the information here.
 

Brucie

Registered User
Jan 31, 2004
12,413
0
near London
Back to MandyP's point

Just a bit about interpretation of data for younger people with dementia.

Say, for the sake of argument, we have a care home, and that home can accommodate 20 people who have dementia.

If we look at the past 3 years and for each year we count the number of people who are under 65 ['younger people'] and those who are over that age ['normal'], then we get a chart that looks like the one below.

From that we can read that the number of younger people with dementia is dropping.
 

Attachments

  • chart 2.jpg
    chart 2.jpg
    33 KB · Views: 356

Brucie

Registered User
Jan 31, 2004
12,413
0
near London
... continued

However, time passes and residents age.

If we maintain that someone who started as a younger person with dementia will always be so classified, the graph looks different.

Even when they age, they always remain someone who was a young person with dementia.
 

Attachments

  • chart 1.jpg
    chart 1.jpg
    29 KB · Views: 369
Last edited:

Brucie

Registered User
Jan 31, 2004
12,413
0
near London
...completed

This of course assumes that none of the younger people has passed on.

There is no rise in numbers of younger people because the home population may have been static.

Why did I do these charts? Because I hope that the researchers have sufficient data to be able to count a young person with dementia to be so throughout their time, and not to count them as normal age as soon as they become 66.....

I want the number of younger people counted sensibly.
 

Skye

Registered User
Aug 29, 2006
17,000
0
SW Scotland
:confused:
Brucie said:
Just a bit about interpretation of data for younger people with dementia.

Say, for the sake of argument, we have a care home, and that home can accommodate 20 people who have dementia.

If we look at the past 3 years and for each year we count the number of people who are under 65 ['younger people'] and those who are over that age ['normal'], then we get a chart that looks like the one below.

From that we can read that the number of younger people with dementia is dropping.

Bruce, I'm hesitant to question your logic, I'm sure you'll run rings round me, but here goes.

In your hypothetical care home, is it not likely that more of the elderly patients will have died? They could have been replaced by younger people, therefore the percentage of younger people would have increased, not decreased.

I take your point about terminology, though. Instead of 'younger people with dementia', would it not be better to call them 'people with early-onset dementia'? They could then retain the diagnosis for the extent of the disease.

Please be gentle when you destroy my argument!

Love,
 

Brucie

Registered User
Jan 31, 2004
12,413
0
near London
In the hypothetical home, it may be the younger people who tend to pass more quickly, and there may have been several who have done so in the past several years, while the older ones may tend to last longer as they may be less agitated. In view of the relatively high proportions of younger people, it may be that these younger people who passed on were replaced by other younger people, thus causing a further under counting, since all counting might be by place in home, not by case on file.

I always used 'early onset' and 'younger people' as meaning similar things but at the conference this week, 'early onset' was being used as 'initial stages' [even for 'normal' age people with dementia] by the researchers and others, something that confused me into changing my own terminology.

I'm not in a position to destroy any arguments - I'm just as confused as everyone else. I could be totally wrong. It is simply that the graphs shown at the conference did not map to my experience, and I am trying to figure out just why that might be so.
 

Skye

Registered User
Aug 29, 2006
17,000
0
SW Scotland
Brucie said:
at the conference this week, 'early onset' was being used as 'initial stages' [even for 'normal' age people with dementia] by the researchers and others, something that confused me into changing my own terminology.


I always thought 'early onset' referred to to people who developed dementia before the age of 60?
 

KenC

Registered User
Mar 24, 2006
913
0
Co Durham
Hi Bruce,

I have just arrived back from seeing my daughter and grand daughters, and I must say that I thought you were brilliant at the conference and on tv.
Well done.

Regards

ken