Impacts and achievements
Dementia Diaries
Theatre as a basis for discussion on dementia
On 4th and 5th April 2011, the Centre for Cognitive Ageing and Cognitive Epidemiology, a cross council Lifelong Health and Wellbeing Centre, hosted a theatre production on dementia.
The play entitled ‘Dementia Diaries’, explored the troubled relationships within a family struggling to cope with dementia. The story is told through the interweaving monologues of an Anglo-Polish family and their Polish carer, where both parents are suffering from different forms of dementia.
Dr Robin Morton, CCACE Knowledge Exchange Officer, who co-ordinated the project said:
“Dementia Dairies proved to be an uncompromising but sympathetic depiction of how dementia affects not just the sufferers but also their family and carers. The production engaged a wide audience in many of the issues raised by dementia and was a great platform both to highlight the work of the CCACE and other dementia related research in Edinburgh. It is vital to make science accessible in this way in order to place our research in a social and cultural context."
The writer of Demetia Dairies also attended the performance and took part in the panel discussion along with CCACE member Dr Tom Russ and Henry Simmons, CEO of Alzheimer Scotland. One of the many highlights was hearing from a Polish carer who could directly relate to the work, emphasising the impact of dementia on families as much as sufferers.
The project was also supported by funding from the University of Edinburgh KE Fund, the Scottish Dementia Clinical Research Network, the Medical Research Council and the Consulate General of the Republic of Poland in Edinburgh.
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