A special thank you to the valuable contributions of our partners, to everyone that assisted with the development and promotion of the consultations and to the project team and committee members. Finally, and most importantly, our sincere thanks to those who participated in the consultations – this project would not have been possible without you.
Project Background
The Empowering Dementia-Friendly Communities Hamilton, Haldimand project is a communities-based initiative led by the Hamilton Council on Aging, people living with dementia and a multi-disciplinary team of partners, funded by the Public Health Agency of Canada’s Dementia Community Investment Fund. This four-year investment provides an opportunity to engage people living with dementia, their care partners, families and other stakeholders to develop, implement and evaluate promising practices, programs or initiatives that improve quality of life for people living with dementia within their communities.
The Community Consultation
From July – November 2020, we consulted with a total of 305 people affected by dementia in Hamilton and Haldimand. We spoke with 71 care partners and people living with dementia over the phone or video conference and 234 surveys were completed by people living with dementia or supporting people living with dementia. The consultation process provided valuable and rich insight into their experiences and challenges related to living with dementia in Hamilton and Haldimand.
What We Heard Hamilton, Haldimand Report
The What We Heard Hamilton, Haldimand report is a summary of the feedback that emerged from community consultations in Hamilton and Haldimand. Our conversations and consultation with people living with dementia, families/care partners in Hamilton and Haldimand revealed the uniqueness of their individual experiences and some shared and common experiences of community life.
Our overarching goal for the creation of the What We Heard Hamilton, Haldimand report is to present this feedback in a way that best reflects and respects what we heard from people living with dementia and their care partners, and to present their experiences and ideas in a format that would be accessible and useful to them and the communities in which they live, work, receive care and play.
We can’t wait to share this report and what’s next with you in June 2021!