Ministry to People with Dementia and their Families

(Exciting Family News - See Below)

Paul and Christine Bryden worship at St Laurence's Church and play a very active part in the ministry for People with Dementia and their Families. Since her diagnosis with Alzheimers Disease in 1995, Christine has advocated for people with various kinds of dementia.

Paul Bryden is active in the State Alzheimer’s Association, as President of the Sunshine Coast, and member of Alzheimer’s Australia (Queensland).

Paul and Christine are a caring partnership complementing one another in the things that they are able to accomplish. The idea of care partners is very important to Paul and Christine.

Christine has spoken of the need to listen to people with Alzheimer’s Disease and other forms of dementia, and to provide care that is sensitive to the needs of the individual person. She has written two books, and appeared in the media and spoken at conferences nationally and internationally in her efforts to change negative views about people with dementia.

If you visit the Website Alzheimer's Australia Living with Dementia you will find a button you can click on saying.I Have Dementia. Today it is recognized that many people with Demntia still seek successfully to lead active lives and to be partners in their own destiny.

In 1995 things were very different. Christine was shocked to learn the extent to which health professionals ignored the widely varying capacity of dementia sufferers to share in their own and family lifeplanning. It seemed that care partnership had scarcely been thought of.

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Life for Paul and me has been
Exciting - Fulfilling - Exhausting
Would you remember us in your prayers that life will not be too hectic?

On September 12th We travel to Tasmania again for a week to give talks for the Alzheimer's Association of Tasmania and to see our growing family.

On September 19th Paul and I are due to travel again to Japan to s Alzheimer's
Seminars organized and sponsored by Silver Channel For about 10 days. Silver Channel delivers video to nursing homes around Japan. A number of health
workers have been in touch to say how informative and encouraging these video programs have been in their work.

There are also tentative plans for us to attend a conference in China in
2008.

Meanwhile Dr Eu-hua Chua who does tv documentaries as well as medical practice has been working on a big project with us. She seeks to  portray how those of us with dementia are best able to cope and to enjoy the life that we have. She even brought her movie camera to Ianthe and myself in the birthing room.

She has been able to submit a number of short video Releases to people like ABC, SBS,(Australia), to French and other video networks any of whom may
decide to provide financial backing.

Pray for Paul and myself that we will know how much to take on in the coming months.

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Christine told Natasha Mitchell in an All In The Mind - interview 25 June 2005 - Dancing With Dementia: Christine Bryden's Story (Part 1)

"I could have coped I think better with a diagnosis of cancer, even if I was going to die in six months time, because I would have died with all my cognitive and emotional strengths intact to deal with pain, drifting away from this life to the next. But this is an uncertain journey, into a future where I’ll lose the resources that I think are necessary to be strong, so I need to think about how to become weak in order to become strong. If I could relax into my dementia and allow myself to be in my black hole quite happily I should be able to drift away from this life and I still know I’ll be me because I’ve thought that through about being my inner self, but I need to stop being anxious about it."

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Recent Activities Below - New Zealand - Gold Coast - Germany - Japan

Catching up with friends from DASNI who Christine had last met at an international conference in NZ in 2001

In Mid February Paul and Christine have returned from a visit to New Zealand where they caught up with old friends.

Christine with a friend and his wife on the beach at Invercargill

washing up in a friends home in Dunedin

With Japanese Friends on the Gold Coast Okita Conference July 2006

There were Australian and German film crews with Christine and Paul at Berlin Conference.

In October 2006, Christine and Paul visited Berlin, Germany. They each gave a talk at the Alzheimer’s Disease International (ADI) conference. An Australian TV documentary film maker from Melbourne met them there to continue filming for a planned TV documentary. A German TV crew was also filming and interviewing them during the conference. Christine and Paul have attended each annual ADI conference since 2001. Christine has spoken about the importance of including people with dementia in the activities of Alzheimer’s associations, and of listening to their views. She was the first person with dementia to be elected to the Board of ADI in 2003, and she stepped down from this position due to ill health in late 2005. Her last talk in Berlin is available to be downloaded from her web site www.christinebryden.com

Christine listened to the views of Japanese people with dementia Kyoto, Japan October 2006.

On their way back from Berlin, Christine and Paul visited Kyoto, Japan, where they had been asked to participate in the first seminar for people with dementia. Christine listened to the views of Japanese people with dementia who had been meeting for two days, and had prepared a communique for their Ministry of Health and Welfare. Christine and Paul participated in the press conference, and then were interviewed and filmed by the Australian filmmaker who had followed them from Berlin, and also by a Japanese TV crew.

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