Community Vision teams with Dementia Doulas

Western Australia-based community services provider Community Vision has partnered with Dementia Doulas International so that its staff can provide individualised care for people with dementia.

In a first for WA, five Community Vision staff have participated in a four-day Dementia Doulas training course, which has provided them with the skills to initiate early future planning conversations and to become an ongoing support for families.

“Partnerships like these are built on mutual values and a shared desire to bring a truly person-centred approach to individuals and families, and at the same time increasing the dignity and choices they have,” Community Vision chief executive officer Yvonne Timson told Australian Ageing Agenda.

Previously only a service offered in South Australia, Dementia Doulas International was established by registered nurse Wendy Hall in 2019 to better meet the needs of those impacted by advancing dementia.

“Wendy and I share a passion to use innovations to increase the quality of care that’s so important to older Australians, even if that means disrupting the normalised perception of what’s currently available,” said Ms Timson.

As a combined force, Community Vision and Dementia Doulas International will be able to deliver flexible and adaptable services to families, inclusive of the family member with dementia, anywhere on any given day, Ms Hall told AAA.

“This also includes residential care where community care staff would either visit with a family member or on their behalf, visit with a strict scope of practice for why they are there, what they would do and what the expected outcomes would be.”

Registered nurse and general manager care and service delivery at Community Vision Tamara Williamson will lead the Dementia Doulas service.

“Traditional dementia support has typically been either very generic, or available once the customer and their family have reached crisis point. Being a trained Dementia Doula allows us the flexibility to work with the person with dementia and their family and friends throughout the disease process,” Ms Williamson told AAA.

“Being a point of consistent support throughout allows us to support people through changes and difficulties in life in the hope that they rarely, if ever, reach crisis point. Being a Dementia Doula gives us the tools to ensure families’ roles and identities are preserved and maintained, despite the effects of dementia,” she added.

Ms Timson said the collaboration would make the two organisations stronger together. “And through Wendy and Dementia Doulas International, it has allowed Community Vision to continue its passion to allow older Australians to live their life their way.”

Main image: Community Vision’s Dementia Doulas graduates

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