Vancouver program aims to take stigma out of dementia

Dementia still carries a stigma among people in Vancouver, given recent stats from the federal government show about a third of Canadians don’t feel comfortable talking about a diagnosis. Yet, almost half a million people live with the disease.

Those struggles are amplified if you speak another language. Now, 15 programs plan to change that — including one in Vancouver.

“This is very important for us, to help people to navigate the system, but first of all, to be accepted. First of all is to be able to talk about it. Tell people the story; the story about the personal journey they went through,” S.U.C.C.E.S.S. CEO Queenie Choo said.

Today on @CityNewsVAN I’m working on a story about the challenges around dementia & getting help, especially if you come from a diverse background/don’t speak English. What do you think still needs to be done to ensure everyone is able to navigate life with a diagnosis? #bchealth

— Ria Renouf (@riarenouf) February 7, 2022

S.U.C.C.E.S.S recently received a portion of a $9.5-million grant from Ottawa as part of a five-year, $40-million initiative to come up with a national dementia strategy.

The group is using the funds to create workshops for those living with dementia, along with their caregivers. S.U.C.C.E.S.S is involved as the social services group aims to help Canadians and immigrants reach their full potential.

“The health information often is not available to immigrant seniors in a way that is culturally relevant or in a language they can understand,” Choo said.

Awareness and education could reduce stigma, and such information is often not available to immigrant seniors in a way that is culturally relevant or in a way they can understand it.

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Some progress around understanding the disease has been made, but there’s still stigma, according to mental health counselor Mia Anthony.

“In Asian cultures, there’s usually quite a history of having generational trauma from colonization to genocide … when there’s generations of trauma basically it kind of looks like culture. It becomes very much normalized, unfortunately, and one of those things especially within the Asian community is expression of emotion. If we think about when a person is in danger usually the expression of emotion is not safe to do so. So it becomes suppressed, it becomes stayed within the person, until it’s safe to express it,” Anthony said.

Dr. Lillian Hung of UBC and Dr. Habib Chaudhury of SFU were also awarded a grant, which they’re using to look at dementia within environmental factors. Both note an intersection between culture and environment when living with dementia.

“Many people with dementia have set challenges when they are crossing streets … A number of things happen at crosswalks. How many lanes do you have to cross? How much time do you have? How can we make this sensitive for not only people with dementia but those who have functional decline as well?” Chaudhury asked.

Details can be a big key to helping a person thrive, even with a diagnosis, according to Dr. Lillian Hung, who is the founder and head of the I.D.E.A. Lab, which aims to find innovative solutions in dementia and aging.

“If people who care for that person really understand what matters to that person, and a lot of these are very culturally sensitive information … we need to have a real respect to people’s routine. I think that makes up a huge piece for quality of life,” Hung said.

S.U.C.C.E.S.S programs go until March 2023, while the UBC/SFU and UNBC joint study will last about two years.