Kiama Project

An Explanation

Photograph by Di Coghlan

The Dementia Friendly Kiama project is a partnership between Kiama Council, The University of Wollongong, Alzheimer’s Australia and many individuals and organisations that make up the Kiama community; particularly people living with dementia.

The project came about when Kiama Council was approached by Alzheimer’s Australia and the University of Wollongong to participate in a pilot project to test Dementia Friendly Community strategies. These organisations chose Kiama because of the work we’ve already carried out in the Age Friendly space, because we have a reputation for innovation in community services. We have a distinct identity and boundaries; making it easy to conduct evaluative research. The project is really a story about a coalition of people and organisations coming together to help increase the liveability of Kiama for people living with dementia.

Initially, most of the administrative and coordination tasks for the project were carried out by an Alzheimer’s Australia employee, but after a $50 000 grant was secured from the Liveable Communities Competition, a project worker was employed who has been instrumental in resourcing, coordinating and facilitating the various activities of the project.

Image courtesy of http://bellevueaccommodation.com.au/

Our goal has been to identify barriers, identify strengths, and to identify strategies to address these barriers and mobilize the strengths that will support PLWD to live a high quality of life with meaning, purpose and value in the Kiama LGA.

The project’s approach is collaborative, driven by People Living With Dementia (PLWD).  It, uses a Participatory Action Research Model, and works within a Community Development Framework to build individual and group skills with the aim of sustainability over the longer term.

The project is structured around two main groups:

1. the Dementia Friendly Alliance which is a coalition of, people with dementia representatives from local community organisations, representatives from the UOW, Alzheimer’s Australia, Kiama Council, plus other individual residents with an interest in dementia, and some local businesses. This ensures a whole of community approach is achieved.
2. the Dementia Advisory Group is made up of people with dementia and their care partners or supporters. The Advisory Group’s; role is to ensure that all project work is a priority of PLWD living in our community, and that PLWD are at the heart of the project. The members’ catch phrase is … “Nothing about us without us”.

The innovation in this project has been twofold:

– Firstly the true inclusion of PLWD at all levels of the project from design through to action.

– Secondly the participation of a broad range of people and organisations that have recognised the need for this type of project., These organisations have taken the initiative to self-generate activities and programs that contribute to the overall goal, e.g. Kiama Community College has become the first organisation in Australia to be officially recognised by Alzheimer’s Australia as working towards being dementia friendly., Our local Taxi service has committed to training all their drivers in Dementia Awareness.

This project has certainly been a story about the whole being greater than the sum of the parts.

To highlight a couple of activities from the Action Plan:

The community education sessions delivered by Alzheimer’s Australia NSW. This has certainly been done before, but not where PLWD have vetted all workshop content before delivery, to make sure the language is positive and empowering and aligns with PLWD’s lived experience, and what they see as priorities. There were many changes made, and to Alzheimer’s Australia NSW’s credit, they took on board all the changes. And of course all sessions have included PLWD who have actively presented and been available for participants to ask questions.

Another highlight has been the intergenerational activity where four Kiama High School students made a short film around living with dementia by filming interviews with some members of our Advisory Group. This was done in partnership with Council’s SENTRAL Youth Services and Kiama High School. The film has already been used in a presentation at the Alzheimer’s Disease International Conference held in Budapest last month (April 2016), plus we’ve been informed that some educators in TAFE and other institutions plan to use the film in their courses.

We’ve been receiving local, national and international recognition for our approach, primarily because of the genuine involvement of PLWD, whose lived experience of dementia drives the project.

Kiama is the 1st community in Australia to be officially recognised by Alzheimer’s Australia as “Working towards being Dementia Friendly”

“Dementia Alliance International believes the Kiama Dementia Friendly Communities initiative is the gold standard globally, primarily because they have set up, and support a very active Dementia Advisory Group of people with dementia supported by their care partners or significant others, who lead the work.” – Quote from Dementia Friendly Communities – Key principles document published by Alzheimer’s Disease International.