Thursday, February 19, 2015
Ontario Seniors' Secretariat
Ontario Providing Alzheimer's Resources in Additional Languages
Ontario is providing resources in additional languages to help more people with Alzheimer's disease, their families and communities prevent and respond to wandering incidents.
In partnership with the Alzheimer Society of Ontario, the province is expanding the Finding Your Way program, a multicultural safety awareness campaign that helps prevent people with dementia from going missing. The program also helps families, caregivers and the community respond when incidents occur.
The expanded program will provide safety kits in four new languages: Urdu, Tagalog, Tamil and Arabic. Safety kits contain information to help families create personalized safety plans and tips for the community on how to help someone with dementia who may be lost.
The Finding Your Way program is part of Ontario's Action Plan for Seniors and is part of the government's economic plan for Ontario. The four-part plan is building Ontario up by investing in people's talents and skills, building new public infrastructure like roads and transit, creating a dynamic, supportive environment where business thrives, and building a secure savings plan so everyone can afford to retire.
Quick Facts:
- Three out of five people with dementia will go missing at some point, and there is greater risk of injury, even death, for those missing for more than 24 hours.
- Ontario has the most diverse seniors’ population in the country, speaking more than 200 languages. In fact, over 12,210 Ontarians over the age of 65 have Arabic as their first language, 7,050 have Urdu, while 10,900 and 16,520 seniors have Tamil and Tagalog respectively.
- Ontario has invested more than $2 million in the Finding Your Way program and recently invested $19 million in research to better understand and diagnose Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s and other neurodegenerative diseases.
- The Finding Your Way safety kit will be available in 12 languages: Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, English, French, Cantonese, Mandarin, Punjabi, Tagalog, Arabic, Urdu and Tamil.
Additional Resources:
"There are nearly 200,000 Ontarians over age 65 currently living with dementia and many do not speak English or French. With the expansion of the Finding Your Way program, we are reaching more people and providing important information to protect those with this disease. Through Ontario’s Action Plan for Seniors we continue to work with older adults, their families, caregivers and law enforcement to improve the safety and security of seniors across the province."
— Mario Sergio, Minister Responsible for Seniors Affairs
"We see the number of people with dementia and the risks associated with missing incidents rising. We commend the Ontario Government for recognizing the need to support people living with dementia from a culturally and linguistically diverse background, and we are thankful for their help in providing socially inclusive programs and services, such as Finding Your Way."
— Chris Dennis, Interim CEO, Alzheimer Society of Ontario
Media Contacts:
Celeste Bottero
Minister’s Office
416-326-1689
Laura Sylvis
Communications Branch
416-314-7010
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