Battlefords Alzheimer’s walk raises $10k

According to the Alzheimer Society of Saskatchewan, 564,000 Canadians are living with some form of dementia, including Alzheimer’s, and 937,000 Canadians will be living with the disease in 15 years.

Scott Jamieson was walking at the field house this afternoon for his father, who is living with frontotemporal dementia.

“The disease comes on in your early to mid-40s, so it affects people a lot younger than Alzheimer’s. We’re trying to raise awareness for that today,” Jamieson said.

Jamieson said it’s often difficult to explain his father’s dementia, as people use Alzheimer’s as a blanket term for dementia.

“Nobody really understands what frontotemporal dementia is. It’s a completely different disease [than Alzheimer’s],” Jamieson said. “Any part of your brain dying will affect you differently. In this case, it’s the front part of his brain that’s deteriorated so the symptoms show up as you losing your personality.”

Jamieson said the walk was a great chance to raise awareness for a type of dementia that most Canadians aren’t familiar with.

To wrap up the month-long Alzheimer’s awareness campaign, there will be an evening of Alzheimer’s education at the Battlefords Union Hospital Telehealth Room Jan. 31, where residents can talk about dementia and learn about the associated facts and stigmas.

Katherine Svenkeson is a reporter with battlefordsNOW. She can be reached at katherine.svenkeson@jpbg.ca or on Twitter @ksvenkeson.

by Katherine Svenkeson

Battlefords Alzheimer’s walk raises $10k

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