Challenging the fear of forgetting through Dementia Reach Out Programs, Ballito – Part 1

When the harsh reality of Dementia strikes a family, most fall into silent despair but the McCarthys saw it as a gift to help others.

Sharyn and Ross McCarthy started the Dementia Reach Out Programs (DROP) an NPO based at Izulu Office Park, Ballito after their lives were turned upside down when Sharyn’s mom Merle was diagnosed with dementia.

“My family and I lived in the UK when my mom was diagnosed ten years ago. As the illness progressed, my dad Derrick’s health started declining too and we nearly lost him twice in ICU. We visited more and more often and did 15 trips to SA between 2014 and 2016. It got to the stage where we had to make a decision,” said the bubbly Sharyn, whose father has also recently been diagnosed with mild dementia.

When they realised that, unlike overseas, SA had limited support systems in place for dementia patients, they decided to take matters into their own hands.

They went for professional training with the UK-based Contented Dementia Trust and became trained in the SPECAL (Specialised Early Care for Alzheimers and Dementia) method to equip themselves with the skills needed to cope with and ensure the well-being of dementia patients and their families.

Sharyn and Ross went from a teacher and entrepreneur selling nougat to Dementia support coaches, packed up their lives and moved to Ballito earlier this year.

“Mom has gifted us with a new pathway in life. The SPECAL method has brought her back to life, as it can help offer an alternative to medication as perhaps the primary treatment.

“This allows you to work with the person’s illness in a highly positive, personal and specialised manner through learning and implementing a range of excellent tools and techniques,” said the positively tuned, empathetic Ross who, together with his wife, coaches family members and carers of dementia patients to help them manage and understand the illness.

“Positive gesture like a genuine smile and sincere body language is an important tool along with trying not to contradict them, even if from a common sense point of view they aren’t making sense. Dementia is a terrifying illness because you lose the ability to record recent facts while retaining the use of your emotions.

“When you react to them sincerely with a genuine smile and go with the flow, it goes a long way to giving them a sense of trust that everything is or will be OK.”

Their goals are to build a dementia and alzheimers support organization that will focus on three main pillars: “Unite, Educate, Respite” which will include specialised training, coaching and support; national information directory services, local and rural community education to dispel the many myths and misunderstandings around dementia, a day respite centre and an online shop for dementia and age related products.

“We want to offer people the complete package of information and access to specialists in the field. We want to encourage a culture of working together with other organisations to create community awareness about this widespread illness which is still seen as a taboo topic by many,” said Ross.

How you can help:

1. Get involved DROP is calling for volunteers who can spare an hour or more of their time to help them man the phones, be their fundraising champion or learn how to be a counselor. Whatever your age or experience, they would like to have you on board.

2. Donate what you do not need Ballito Alzheimer’s Support Group have teamed up with DROP to collect second hand clothes, shoes, bags and household items which are sold at the Car Boot Market on the last and first Saturday of every month opposite the Ballito Bay Mall to raise funds.

3. Become a sponsor Help in any way from businesses would be appreciated to get the word out as well as raise funds.

Contact Ross for more information at 079 318 2709, send a mail to info@drop.org.za or go to their website www.drop.org.za

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