Improve Understanding, Knowledge and Skills

• Raise awareness: building awareness and knowledge dissemination about the disease and its most often devastating impact for the person and their primary caregivers. Primary audience are (i) families (ii) public/the larger society (iii) medical and para medical staff both State and private (iv) local administrative bodies like the Panchayat/municipality, PHC/CHC, the police, RWAs, local Clubs etc
• Capacity building of (i) Carers/families; (ii) Family and neighbourhood support groups; (iii) Volunteers; (iv) Relevant professionals and (v) Relevant institutions to improve quality of care and support. This will be systematically designed, imparted and impact studied periodically.
• Information, Education and Communication: design and disseminate IEC materials for different types of audience.

Design Support services for Patients and Carers

• Memory Clinics: lobby and help initiate Memory clinics for early diagnosis within District Hospitals. Assessment of people with dementia requires much more than a consultation which happens in an outpatient clinic. Memory clinics are not ordinary outpatient clinics where a neurologist or a psychiatrist manages patients with dementia. Memory Clinic consists of a multidisciplinary team which assess and manage patients with dementia on a long term basis. Working collaboratively with other departments in the hospital will increase the effectiveness of the service as it is available under one roof. Hence, KDCS is currently discussing plans with the District Hospital to open one within its premise.
• Day Care Centre: operate an adult Day Care Centre in Kannur with a demonstrative effect for further replication or adaptation. The objective is to give much needed respite for people who provide care at home for relatives with dementia. A key requirement is that the day care center should have a homely ambience. But with additional facilities to extend the services available to both the patients and the carers. Operated by dedicated and skilled staff, this Centre is primarily for stage 1 and 2 categories of patients with dementia.
• Work with Carers/Families: provide counselling and other support inputs to affected families especially primary carers. Caregivers’ especially primary caregivers own health is also of importance. Caregiver burnout, stress and helplessness is a known factor especially in dementia care. This is a core area of work for KDCS.

Networking, Advocacy and Lobbying

Fund raising