President Des Moore greets Aoife McMaster with club members Cecil Leitch (L) and Jim Hillis (R).

Coleraine Probus find out about the 'Alzheimer's Society'

Aoife McMaster came along to the meeting to tell members something about her work with the "Alzheimer’s Society“. Aoife is the local support worker for the Society and regularly meets people like our club members that know of, or are directly effected by, the illness that is dementia.

Alzheimer's is one of a number of varieties of 'Dementia' and is a physical illness that affects the brain. Abnormal structures build up inside the brain and disrupt how nerve cells work and communicate with each other. In addition to 'Alzheimer's' there are several other types of dementia, all stem from a similar base of effects to the brain, and include: Vascular dementia; Dementia with Lewy bodies; Parkinson's disease; Frontotemporal dementia, Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (often called 'Mad Cow Disease') and Wernicke-Korsakoff syndrome. The Alzheimer's Society and Aoife in her work, give help and support to people affected by any form of Dementia.

In her talk, Aoife set the members a task - you may like to try this at home (again!). Draw two circles. Now, from memory (no cheating by looking please!), use the circles to draw both sides of a one-penny coin. This is not so easy as you may think. After everyone had completed the task as best as they could, Aoife pointed out TEN important characteristics that should be in the drawings (*IF you haven't cheated, scroll down the page to see how many points you may have scored). One point was awarded for each. Members did quite well, by scoring between 2 and even as high as 6! When asked how they felt about this, the general consensus was one of apprehension and uncertainty. And THAT Aoife said, was how sufferers feel all the time.

Aoife gave a comprehensive overview of the symptoms of Alzheimer's and other types of Dementia. She had helped to set up support groups and help lines that were available locally for carers. In ending her talk, Aoife showed short film giving a view of everyday life a person with Dementia endures. This was full of disturbing images of the difficulties experienced through their eyes, and illustrated graphically how we, as the general public, often treat the Dementia sufferer. The film then showed how, with a few simple acts of understanding and thoughtfulness, we can communicate with and help the dementia sufferer.

This was a very educational and interesting talk. It also gave many members the opportunity to ponder their own, and family members, prospects for the future - and some very sobering thoughts they were too! If you or someone close to you, could do with some dementia advice and/or support, you can phone the Society on 028 7035 8887.

Members wanting to find out more about, and ways to help cope with dementia, can also visit the Alzheimer's Society web site by 'Clicking' the logo below (this will open in a new window).

(Once again a 'Thank-you' to Graham for his notes and an early turnaround!)

* No cheating, draw your circles and the coin details THEN scroll further…
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The TEN items you MUST have to get a point for each:
1. Queen profile image
2. Inscription around image "ELIZABETH . II .D.G
3. Words "REG . F . D"
4. Numbers of year minted - say "2012"
5. Inscription "ONE PENNY"
6. The Number "1"
7. A Crown
8. Portcullis Gate
9. Chains hanging each side of gate
10. On both sides of coin, below the rim, is a series of raised dots: ………………