Gaffud, Lloyd Adrian R.

BSN – 309

Last February 24, 2021 I attended a webinar named “Compassion in Dementia”

which was focused on elderly people and the webinar mainly focused on key points
such as What dementia is, what causes dementia, and dementia on the elderly and its
signs and symptoms and how it affect their daily life, The speakers also emphasize
living condition of elderly people in the Philippines compared to other countries, we also
learned how dementia was viewed as in the common public their opinion on how people
suffering from dementia is treated and looked at.

Unlike in other foreign countries such as America and UK here in the Philippines
elderly people diagnosed with dementia are not treated properly and some do not even
receive treatment at all. Dementia patients are left at home without care takers to look
after them because in the Philippines and other 3 rd world countries healthcare especially
a continuous treatment plan cost a lot of money something that an average household
couldn’t afford and because people that are not aware of this mental disorder see this
as a common symptom of a person going crazy, people tend to avoid dementia client’s
rather than conversing with them so elderly patients which are the most affected with
this disease are left alone isolated even from their own family.

Rather than aiding and trying to include dementia patients in therapeutic

therapies or assistance groups family members just tend to leave their elderly family
members than do anything at all. Even if they hire a care giver or put them in a home for
the elderly in the long run it is not as cost efficient for an average household and take
not that dementia tend to hit elderly people that live in poorer condition and due to this
reason it is harder to admit them because as the speaker stated in other countries home
for the elderly is a facility that is also funded by the government to make it less
burdensome for family members to admit their family members in. in the Philippines
Home for the elderly’s here is a separate identity that isn’t funded nor govern by the
government so price and cost are more higher compared to facilities aided by
government funds

The speakers said that when handling with a patient especially elderly people
that are diagnosed with dementia it is best to avoid creating a triggering effect that can
stimulate their dementia. It was best to be silent and attentive to their needs and to be
subtle and do not take it to heart when we are insulted by them

As a student nurse I am bound to aid people and clients with dementia and the
best thing I can contribute to the improvement of their condition is to be therapeutic as
much as possible. I need to know what are the does and don’ts when handling them
especially the words and actions I show them when I am treating them as a student
nurse I am their to aid them, not to boss them around to do this or that to speed their
healing process. As a student nurse I should be attentive to their words and observative
in their actions because a to properly aid them we must first remember that dementia
patients are people that are damaged cognitively and are fragile and overly sensitive
people even a single misspoken word that is negative towards them, after they fear this
they always take it to heart reason. As a student nurse to improve the outcome of their
recovery is to simply support them in their recovery process and aid them to prevent
further complications.