India currently has about 4.41 million persons with dementia. However, only less than 10% receive diagnosis and appropriate care. Dementia Care in SCARF (DEMCARES) is a project of Schizophrenia Research Foundation India, a leading non-governmental organisation in mental health care and research in Chennai, India.
Sridhar is a consultant psychiatrist at the Schizophrenia Research Foundation. He has been the head of the DEMCARES project since 2015. Sridhar’s interests lie in building capacity among health care staff and developing services to improve care of persons with dementia in Chennai.
Neha is involved in the training programme for family practitioners in dementia care, developing and evaluating training modules for nurse assistants and is the co-ordinator for the Dementia Friends programme. Her interests include health systems, programme design, monitoring and evaluation, implementation research.
Monisha is currently involved in adapting cognitive stimulation therapy to be more culturally appropriate, validating assessments for persons with dementia as well as their caregivers, training caregivers and professionals in delivering interventions and improving quality of care. Her interests include person centred approaches to care, culturally relevant interventions and alternative non-pharmacological therapies.
Adhilakshmi is our head nurse who runs the Centre for Active Aging. She caters to the physical and mental health needs of our clients. She also runs the Home Care Assistants Training programme. Her interests include residential care systems, palliative care and nutrition and diet management in persons with dementia.
Suhavana is currently involved in providing psychological interventions for persons with dementia and their caregivers, training mental health professionals in dementia identification and management as well as validating an attitudes to dementia scale among college students.Her interest areas include neuropsychology, tools that aid in dementia screening and culturally relevant tools that aid in evaluating sub cortical functioning.
Abirami is a nursing assistant at the Centre for Active Aging. She delivers basic psychological group and individual interventions and assists with taking care of our clients basic physical health needs. Her interests include cognitive stimulation,palliative care and ensuring improved quality of life.
Saraswathi is a nursing assistant at the Centre for Active Aging. She assists with providing basic psychological therapies and basic nursing services. Her interests include engaging clients in innovative and cognitively stimulating ways and ensuring their physical health needs are met.
Bryony is a registered mental health nurse from the United Kingdom, she has experience working with people in all stages of dementia in the community and inpatient settings. She volunteers her time with us, helping to ensure the practice of person-centred care. She also assists in training and service development for professionals working with persons with dementia.
Thanks to our funder, the Infosys Foundation. We would also like to thank our other sponsor’s The good news Scotland charitable trust, SUN Pharma and The Street,Inc.