Shift needed in approach to managing dementia

VINCENT’S 73-year-old wife Mary, who was afflicted with Alzheimer’s disease, declined dramatically during the Covid-19 pandemic. Due to the movement restrictions, she was left alone in a nursing home as her family members weren’t allowed to visit her. Within weeks, she had lost 15kg, could no longer utter the simplest of words and stopped responding to the voices of her children.

She could not even recognise the man she loved. Vincent knew that isolation was killing his wife, but he could do nothing except watch from a distance.