The Mental Decline

For nearly a decade Berry Holtzhausen, CEO of Alzheimer Dementia Namibia CEO and his daughter, Sufrani Uys have been on a journey to understand Dementia and the world of people living with Dementia.
ELIZABETH JOSEPH
Jo-dee Van der Byl

They have studied many online courses, read many books, googled several websites but they are yet to discover the mystery of Dementia.

As September is World Alzheimer Month, Sufrani Holtzhausen availed herself to sharing her knowledge about Alzheimer and Dementia. She explains that Dementia is a condition resulting from a brain disease such as Alzheimer’s disease or Vascular Dementia.

The disease causes permanent and progressive damage to the brain. The Jan Mohr Happy Club recently had an opportunity to see the wonderful and intriguing works of the father-daughter duo through a short film titled the African Witch Finder which won a few awards in the film festival in the United States last year.

Their passion and devotion has blossomed into (ADN) Alzheimer and Dementia Namibia an organization dedicated to caring for people living with Dementia and spreading awareness and ending the stigma surrounding it.

As many people have the idea that Dementia affects only the elderly or people above the age of 40, Uys explains that there are 8 major potentially modifiable risk factor that the younger generation have to be aware of such as smoking, depression, alcohol abuse, diabetes, physical inactivity and a few more.

According to Health line, Dementia is a term used to describe the severe changes in the brain, three areas are usually affected language, memory and decision-making.

Early signs include forgetting names and recent events. However, signs and symptoms of Dementia are characterized by the type whether Lewy body Dementia, Parkinson’s and the list continues.

Early onset Dementia occurs before the age of 65, alcohol abuse is one of the most important risk factors found in a study by a lead researcher Peter Nordstrom.

Uys encourages that education is one of the most important elements in spreading awareness and ending the stigma because there is so much we don’t know and are yet to learn about Dementia.