Creating a dementia-friendly Swakopmund

The Swakopmund municipality is being urged to make the town which has an increasing population of people living with dementia, into a dementia-friendly environment for such persons.

Dementia is an overarching condition of terminal mental deterioration that affects many mental and physical abilities, such as memory and comprehension, which can render a person helpless where everyday activities are forgotten, or become impossible; the last phase is physical: loss of mobility, swallowing challenges and incontinence.

“Dementia cannot be healed. Parts of the brain start dying, and eventually, a person cannot speak, eat or even breathe. It's not just forgetfulness, and it is not a matter of survival but maintaining quality of life in the end,” said the founder of the Alzheimer and Dementia Namibia centre, Berrie Holzhauzen, who was diagnosed with dementia.

One of the best ways to avoid dementia, and to slow its effect, is exercise. The call to make Swakopmund a pioneer of dementia-friendly originated from this.

Holtzhausen explained that the hippocampus, the brain’s ‘GPS’ system and short term memory processor that helps a person respond to the environment through experience, is also the only part where new brain cells are generated. Exercise keeps the hippocampus’ generation process healthy, which in turn, stems the approach and progression of dementia.

While the municipality does encourages public health and leisure through its town-planning services and facilities, especially with the development of relevant facilities at public parks and along the beach, it was reminded that there were also special considerations – for people living with dementia for example.

Holtzhausen brought specific attention to the town’s famous Schad Promenade (‘Lover’s Lane’) near the Mole, where cycling is prohibited (only walking allowed). He told the municipality the path was wide enough to include a cycling lane, which is a favourite exercise in town.

According to him the issue with the bicycle lane in Schad Promenade was just a very small component in a much larger objective.

“This is not just about riding bicycles; it’s about exercise and human rights. It is important to create a dementia-friendly world – which Namibia is not at all. There are such facilities and services elsewhere in the world. Dementia is a multiple disability, which also includes physical deterioration and eventually death. It must be clearly understood that it is not a mental health issue – it is a brain disease,” he explained.

Holtzhausen said that he also told the municipality about the need for dementia-friendly parking spaces, especially in the central business area – spaces clearly marked and reserved for people living with dementia.

“Trying to find your parked car is a major issue, and some people wait until everyone has gone home, and the last car left is their car.”

He said there was a need to ensure other public services and facilities also become dementia-friendly, like banks, post-offices, and supermarkets. Shops, for instance, need to be ready to assist when people look for things, or forget what the products is. There need to be staff trained to assist in such cases.

“There are ways to support and assist people living with dementia. It could become an issue of human rights not being attended to, which deprives people of their liberties just because of the sickness. It’s about including people into society, because if these facilities are absent, people with dementia disengage themselves and lose quality of life,” he said.

Erongo 24/7 understands from both the municipal traffic, engineering and town planning departments that Holzhausen’s concerns and proposals have been well received and are being considered for implementation.