It has been a very busy few weeks at My Dementia Companion HQ with a significant amount of content updates! This include:
In addition to the hundreds of Social Care Institute of Excellence (SCIE) updates last month, we have also updated hundreds of links to Dementia Australia’s new website. You may notice in your Google searches that many results are still broken, as the links are not redirected to the new pages. For our users, My Dementia Companion now has the new links connected, including new resources and replacements for those that Dementia Australia have now removed.
Check out our new Sections on:
‘Natural disaster preparation and management’ for each State/Territory
‘Firearms and dementia’ for each State/Territory.
Other updates include:
Practical strategies on wandering and getting lost
New templates for creating a life story
Dignity of Risk
Medication aids and devices
Dental and oral health
Soft food options
Companion Cards and more.
REMEMBER to refresh your browser to see the updates.
Dementia Australian links update
Dementia Australia is a key source of dementia information, which many Australians and My Dementia Companion use. The entire website and much of the content have been updated, which impact on all users:
Links are not redirected
Some key resources are removed
Some resources are combined or separated.
We have worked hard to review and updated hundreds of their links within MyDC CARER and PRO, including:
Re-linked all suitable webpages, including some new and useful content
Updated replacement resources as needed from reputable local and international sources.
A big THANK-YOU to the team and volunteers on working late to have this completed last week, especially following a huge SCIE update last month!
A quick note to non-My Dementia Companion users - because Dementia Australia’s update is not redirected and the change is recent:
Google search is not yet updated with the new links, so when ‘Googling’, you may end up on a ‘broken’ link to the old webpage
Please update your own favourited resources.
Alternatively, please use My Dementia Companion to help you.
New Section on 'Natural disaster preparation and management'
As extreme weather and natural disasters become more frequent, we have been asked to include some resources on how to best help people living with dementia and their carers in those situations.
Our new Section ‘Natural disaster preparation and management’ for each State/Territory includes guides, plan templates and tips on how to prepare and manage in those situations, and disaster relief contact details and strategies for specific disasters such as bushfire, flood, storm, tsunami and more, which are unique for each State/Territory.
You can explore this Section within the Topic "Healthy living and ageing for the person" from the "More Topics" tab (CARER app) or the "Home" tab (PRO app), or search using keywords like "disaster’, ‘weather’ etc.
New Section on 'Firearms and dementia'
Dementia or cognitive impairment can make being around firearms dangerous. Based on request, we have curated strategies on how to keep firearms safe and reporting obligations when there is a change to capacity.
You can explore this Section within the Topic "Healthy living and ageing for the person" from the "More Topics" tab (CARER app) or the "All info" tab (PRO app), or search using keywords like "gun', ‘firearm’ etc.
Other updates
As we constantly update our curated resources, we have made hundreds of other updates, including:
Much more practical strategies on managing wandering and getting lost
Aids to help with taking medication easier
Ready to use templates for creating a life story for reminiscence therapy
Added guide to preparing soft food options
Updated Dignity of Risk video from the Aged Care Quality and Safety Commission
Companion Cards and more.
You can explore the above updates by searching using relevant keywords.
Note: minor updates are not documented here, such as some wording changes, URL changes, reference updates etc.