The Ministry of Health and Welfare’s Department of Nursing and Healthcare said people struggling to take care of family members with dementia should make use of the ministry’s dementia care services and resources.
The invitation came after a case reported on Saturday, in which a 21-year-old woman, who lived with her grandparents in Taoyuan, allegedly killed her grandmother — who had dementia and was about to be sent to a nursing home — a few days after her grandfather passed away, and later committed suicide by jumping out of a window.
Aside from memory loss, people with dementia can also suffer from cognitive dysfunction and exhibit disruptive behaviors, so taking care of family members with dementia is not an easy task, the department said.
In order to prevent similar tragedies, the department urged people to make use of its dementia care services and resources, including daycare units, dementia community service branches, nursing facilities with specialized dementia care services and accommodation, group homes for elderly people with dementia, and special courses for people with dementia.
A family caregivers support network has been established to provide information and psychological support, including caregiver training courses, mutual help groups, and collaboration with local healthcare groups to provide early intervention, care visits, discussion groups and other activities, the department said.
It said the services and resources on offer can be found at the ministry’s Facebook page on long-term care: www.facebook.com/mohw.ltc/posts/624477361052019).
In addition, the ministry operates three helplines: the Family Caregivers Helpline (0800-580-097), the Dementia Care Hotline (0800-474-580) and the Long-term Care Hotline (412-8080).
Taiwan Alzheimer’s Disease Association chairman Lai Te-jen (賴德仁) also reacted to the tragic case.
He said that if people see family members showing signs of depression such as irritability, crying, serious sleep disorders or suicidal ideation, they should take them to visit a mental health professional.
Family members should discuss their responsibilities and make arrangements to take care of patients with dementia together, he said.
Taiwanese were praised for their composure after a video filmed by Taiwanese tourists capturing the moment a magnitude 7.5 earthquake struck Japan’s Aomori Prefecture went viral on social media. The video shows a hotel room shaking violently amid Monday’s quake, with objects falling to the ground. Two Taiwanese began filming with their mobile phones, while two others held the sides of a TV to prevent it from falling. When the shaking stopped, the pair calmly took down the TV and laid it flat on a tatami mat, the video shows. The video also captured the group talking about the safety of their companions bathing
US climber Alex Honnold is to attempt to scale Taipei 101 without a rope and harness in a live Netflix special on Jan. 24, the streaming platform announced on Wednesday. Accounting for the time difference, the two-hour broadcast of Honnold’s climb, called Skyscraper Live, is to air on Jan. 23 in the US, Netflix said in a statement. Honnold, 40, was the first person ever to free solo climb the 900m El Capitan rock formation in Yosemite National Park — a feat that was recorded and later made into the 2018 documentary film Free Solo. Netflix previewed Skyscraper Live in October, after videos
Starting on Jan. 1, YouBike riders must have insurance to use the service, and a six-month trial of NT$5 coupons under certain conditions would be implemented to balance bike shortages, a joint statement from transportation departments across Taipei, New Taipei City and Taoyuan announced yesterday. The rental bike system operator said that coupons would be offered to riders to rent bikes from full stations, for riders who take out an electric-assisted bike from a full station, and for riders who return a bike to an empty station. All riders with YouBike accounts are automatically eligible for the program, and each membership account
A classified Pentagon-produced, multiyear assessment — the Overmatch brief — highlighted unreported Chinese capabilities to destroy US military assets and identified US supply chain choke points, painting a disturbing picture of waning US military might, a New York Times editorial published on Monday said. US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth’s comments in November last year that “we lose every time” in Pentagon-conducted war games pitting the US against China further highlighted the uncertainty about the US’ capability to intervene in the event of a Chinese invasion of Taiwan. “It shows the Pentagon’s overreliance on expensive, vulnerable weapons as adversaries field cheap, technologically
RSS