The Alzheimer’s Society is aiming for a pro-active approach for patients, before families are in crisis mode with their loved ones.
First Link Coordinator for the Saint John and Charlotte County areas, Melanie Saulnier, says First Link is a new referral program that allows family doctors, geriatrics, and other healthcare professionals to connect families with the Alzheimer’s Society upon diagnosis.
“That’s the new pro-active response. Before, there wasn’t that program to refer families, so families could often wait five years and be reaching out to us in terms of a crisis. So it was very crisis driven, and now it’s more pro-active. Reaching out to families before they need support is crucial.”
Saulnier says they have served around 385 New Brunswickers in the past two years through the First Link program.
She says there are 17,000 people in the province diagnosed with some form of dementia. She says she relates that number more to 17,000 families affected.
