Dementia patients still engage in life

Sydney-based neuroplasticity expert, Dr Helena Popovic, knows her father, who lives with dementia, will never master juggling; but it switches on his brain, forces him to focus and reportedly improves his memory.

“And that’s a “promising result,” she tells DPS News.

After her mother passed away from a battle with lung cancer two years ago, Dr Popovic took on the role as full-time carer to her 80-year-old father who was diagnosed with vascular dementia about five years ago.

Dr Popovic has conducted extensive research on the brain, mind and motivation.  Her research delves deep into how we can change our own brain and mind mastery.

Testing her work on her father, Dr Popovic’s journey to uncover the mind’s hidden secrets will hopefully benefit a man who once cared for her.

She has done everything in her power to provide her father with a “physically, socially and mentally” active life.

Among the list of activities Dr Popovic has encouraged her father to join are juggling, playing darts, activities held at the local Men’s Shed, line-dancing, French lessons, volunteering at Meals on Wheels, swimming once or twice a week and attending the opera or ballet about once a month.

“You have to keep your brain healthy,” she says. “He may never win a dart championship, but it keeps his mind active.

“And you see a difference. It’s not quick – it probably took about three months. Caring is labour intensive and involves constantly motivating a person with very little initiative.

“But it’s essential they do things, not just for entertainment, but for feeling like they have a purpose and are making a contribution and difference.”

Similar to those living with dementia, Dr Popovic also hopes to “make a difference” in improving the quality of life for her father.

“I remember dad saying to me – ‘if you put me in a nursing home, I know I will die’.

“I think people with dementia – and any older people for that matter – have a sense of self-confidence that comes from living in their own home and not in residential aged care.”

She says perhaps the most important factor for carers, as well as aged care staff to remember is always “give them a choice”.

“Regardless of how low their mental functioning is, give them a choice. Ask them if they would prefer a banana or a pear, or ask them whether they would prefer to go to the gym after or before lunch,” Dr Popovic explains.

For the past two years, Dr Popovic has flown with her father to his home-country Serbia to take him back to his roots. She will again fly to Serbia with her father for a third consecutive year so he can spend time with family – but the trip scheduled for next month will be slightly different.

“This time I’m going to go on an experiment. I’m going to leave after 10 days and go back home to Australia, and I’m going to say to him ‘you call me when you want to come back and I’ll pick you up’,” she says, reiterating that giving him that choice is important.

Despite her great efforts to provide the best life for her father, Dr Popovic admits it can be challenging.

“I thought to myself I could never live with myself if I didn’t give this social experiment a go. While neighbours have told me they can see good changes in dad, it’s hard to know whether you’re making a difference.

“When mum died I thought to myself, I know about the brain and I think I can get him back to scratch… that was probably too ambitious to start with, but I did it because I do have hope… there’s no such thing as false hope,” she says.

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