Living with dementia in a rural community

September 2017 saw the launch of the Dementia Action Alliance’s (DAA) ‘From Seldom Heard to Seen and Heard’ Campaign. The campaign focuses on people living with dementia and their families from six communities who are often marginalised from services and support: Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender + (LGBT), Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic (BAME), Young onset dementia, The prison population, People living in rural communities and People with learning disabilities.

I’m a national member of the DAA, and proud to have worked with the team in developing this campaign, mostly by utilizing my extensive knowledge and experience of working with people who have a learning disability and dementia. I wrote about BAME communities in my October 2017 blog, and for this post, I want to think about the challenges for people with dementia who are living in rural communities.

It’s a topic close to my heart - I’ve always lived in rural areas, and currently live over 11 miles from my nearest town. My dad was a farmer with a passion for the countryside, and he fostered my love of rural life, nature and the environment from an early age.

But whilst I love rural living, I’m also well aware that it isn’t without its challenges. Although rural communities can often be amazing at pulling together and looking after their own, there is no doubt that many people can also be very isolated and lonely if they become ‘cut off’ or reclusive.

For a person developing dementia, particularly if they live alone, that can lead to numerous problems. My dad went ten years without a diagnosis, and whilst I would be the first to admit that there were many factors that contributed to that timescale, I do wonder if living miles from healthcare services made him someone who was ‘out of sight and out of mind’.

Dad’s local town was 9 miles away, and although he was on a bus route the services weren’t as frequent as in urban areas. During his 10 years without a diagnosis dad stopped driving which made him even more dependent, not only on public transport but on his family too. I didn’t learn to drive until after dad’s diagnosis, by which time he was living in a care home, so it wasn’t like I was much use on the transport front either.

Had dad received a timely diagnosis, and had services existed back then that he or I had wanted to access (groups and therapies for dad, or for me, carers services), our involvement would have been dependent upon us having suitable transport that got us to these services at the right time. For many people living in rural communities, these are sometimes problems that prove insurmountable.

Reflecting now, I also see how lucky we were that dad didn’t get into serious difficulties living surrounded by fields (the garden backed onto open farmland), ditches and streams whilst he was developing dementia. The countryside was very picturesque, but had dad decided to go out walking and then become unable to find his way home, it’s quite possible no one would have seen him, let alone found him, potentially until it was too late.

Urban areas tend to have more landmarks, in terms of buildings and points of interest. There are also many more CCTV cameras and members of the public who might see someone with dementia who has got lost whilst walking. Finding a person with dementia who is confused and disorientated in that environment is possibly easier than in the countryside.

My dad was living on the edge of a small village, so we weren’t completely cut off from civilisation, but many people living in rural areas may be far more isolated down a dirt track without another house in sight. If bad weather then hits the potential for difficulties or disasters becomes considerably greater.

Of course it isn’t just about hazards and problems. Many people living in rural areas benefit from cleaner air, more open spaces and opportunities to absorb themselves in outdoor pursuits that improve their wellbeing. Even being able to sit by a window and look out onto open fields and watch the animals and birds, enjoying how the changing seasons alter the natural landscape, is something many people in urban areas may crave.

Isolation and loneliness isn’t just reserved for individuals living in the countryside either. It’s often said that you can be surrounded by people in a town or city and yet still be the loneliest person in the world. Just because you have countless neighbours all around you, doesn’t mean anyone will actually knock on your door.

But I do firmly believe that people living with dementia in rural locations face some specific challenges, particularly around accessing services and support and remaining safe and well (although not resorting to being risk adverse), that require all of us to consider how we are reaching out to these individuals and communities and making our services and support accessible. Yes, some dementia friendly community work has happened in rural areas, but certainly not in all of them, or even the majority.

Where I live is currently undertaking a neighbourhood development plan survey, and one of the areas I’ve highlighted in the lack of retirement and extra care housing, and residential care services, for our ageing population. People who live in rural areas have every right to reside in the location of their choosing - they shouldn’t be forced to move to an urban area if they don’t want to just because their needs are changing and there is a lack of services and support in their locality.

Of course there are always challenges to find staff, and run health, social care and third sector services in rural areas that are sufficiently used that they remain viable, but as a country we need to become much more innovative about supporting people in every community, regardless of how rural they are, to lead the life they want, including when they are living with dementia.

Until next time...

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Driving, dementia, and doing the right thing

Whenever dementia diagnosis is discussed, one of the major barriers that explains why people delay seeking a diagnosis is the fear of giving up driving.

It is understandable and something I can relate to. I live in a very rural part of England - not having a car and being able to drive would be severely isolating for me, but driving is about more than just freedom and the ability to shop, socialise and pursue hobbies and activities that you enjoy. It is also about a way of life.

For most people, passing their driving test is one of those significant life moments, a signal for a young person that they've gone from being a dependent child to an independent adult. Most people cherish this status, and if you've had your license for the majority of your life, being faced with losing it can be a bitter pill to swallow. Not only that, but it can make you feel very 'child' like again at a time when other changes in your life are leaving you with the sensation of being stripped of your adulthood.

There are a lot of misconceptions about driving and dementia. A diagnosis, in itself, doesn't necessary mean that you instantly stop driving. There are a myriad of medical complexities, everything from the type of dementia a person has and how it is affecting them (everyone is affected differently, even two people who have the same type of dementia may experience different symptoms), to how early the person has been diagnosed (they may have very mild symptoms, or their symptoms may be significantly advanced, or indeed anywhere in-between).

With the suggestion that medical science may be able to predict much earlier presentations of different types of dementia in the future, the chances are that changes in the brain that indicate very early forms of certain types of dementia could mean more people are diagnosed in the years to come at a time when they are still medically fit to drive.

And that is the key to the issue about driving. To my mind, it is a simple question about a person's fitness to drive. There are many different medical conditions that can make you unfit to drive, as well as different medications. The interactions between different conditions and medications are also important to understand. Dementia alone may not stop you driving immediately, particularly if you have been diagnosed quite early. It really depends on your individual circumstances.

As every UK driver knows, they have to inform DVLA (Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency) of any medical conditions that may affect their ability to drive, and also inform their insurance company. If the person doesn't want to voluntarily surrender their license, there has to be a medical report compiled by their doctor to help the DVLA make their decision about that person's fitness to drive. The outcome will be that either the license will be revoked (you need to be retested in order to get a license again) or renewed for a fixed duration before another review.

At every stage, the compliance of the driver is preferable to make the process as seamless as possible, but what happens when the driver doesn't feel that there is any medical reason to contact the DVLA? They may be symptomatic but not diagnosed with dementia, or indeed may have received a diagnosis but be struggling to accept it.

This is a conundrum that many families face. Sometimes family members recognise the problems the person is having with their driving before the person does themselves. Even if the person is noticing issues like getting lost in otherwise familiar places, being unsure of how to operate a previously familiar car, or having 'near-misses' whilst on the road, they may just dismiss it, or try to hide their problems out of embarrassment or fear.

Families often find themselves in the position of arbiters on their loved one's ability to drive, caught between not wanting to report their loved one's declining driving skills but at the same time being worried for their relative's safety and the safety of others. If the person who is experiencing symptoms that are affecting their driving is also the main driver in a partnership, and either their partner only drives infrequently or not at all, losing their license could have significant implications for their partner/carer/family too.

It is, by any stretch of the imagination, an unpleasant situation to find yourself in. It can cause huge arguments in relationships and the wider family, can result in family members going behind their loved one's back to take steps to revoke their license or take their car away, and can cast a very long shadow that makes a person hostile towards seeking help if they have undiagnosed dementia symptoms.

Of course everyone is different - some people pragmatically face up to difficulties with driving and voluntarily give up their license before they might be formally required to do so. But even talking to people in memory clinics who've been diagnosed with a type of dementia, the topic of driving still brings up strong opinions.

In my dad's case, during the 10 years he lived with dementia prior to his diagnosis, he became an unsafe driver. He didn't recognise his shortcomings, however, and wanted to continue to drive. Everything came to a head when he demonstrated his intention to continue to drive by sending his car to the garage for some very expensive repairs that were needed to make the car roadworthy.

Not only could he not afford the repairs (but didn't realise he couldn't afford the repairs), had the car come home ready to drive he would have been a danger to himself and to other people on the roads. In the face of very dogmatic conversation (dad lost his reasoning skills very early on in his dementia), I had no choice but to have the car sent for scrap. Any other outcome was either going to result, at best, in debt, and at worst in an accident.

I didn't like having to take the action I did, nor did it make me particularly popular for a while, but I felt a strong responsibility not just to my dad but also to other road users. You could argue it was paternalistic of me, and I wouldn't disagree, but to this day I would defend the decision I took. My only regret is that dad didn't make the decision that had to be taken himself. It would have been infinitely preferable for all concerned if he had.

Sadly I will never know if the symptoms of dad's dementia prevented him making that decision, or if he would have always resisted any notion of giving up driving for any medical reason, not just vascular dementia. At the time it was another of those very confusing, isolating moments that you have as a family with a loved one who has undiagnosed dementia where you grapple with the dicey question of, 'What is the right thing to do?'

It's not a question I would wish on other families, and but for me, finding the answer was one that ultimately came down to the legalities of fitness to drive. It is illegal to drive a car when you are not medically fit to do so, and driving, whilst hugely important in the lives of so many people and something none of us necessarily 'want' to give up, isn't worth pursing if you cannot do it safely.

Until next time...

You can follow me on Twitter: @bethyb1886

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