01 July 2018
Marie Alford
Head of Implementation, Dementia Centre HammondCare
Bachelor of Social Work (Honours)
Dementia does not discriminate – it currently affects more than 400,000 people in Australia of all different backgrounds and ages, and has a huge impact on the physical, mental and emotional health of not only the patient but also on their carers and loved ones.
According to Dementia Australia, it is estimated that nearly one million Australians will live with dementia by the year 2050, and with the country’s ageing population and no known cure, social worker Marie Alford is working to inspire the next generation of leaders in dementia and aged care.
“My grandmother, who was my last living family member, lived with dementia. There was never a formal diagnosis, but I watched her transition from independent to fiercely independent as a way to protect herself from what she knew was coming,” says Marie.
“If you had told me I would end up working in dementia and aged care, I wouldn’t have thought it possible but I discovered that I could use all my skills in counselling, mediation, advocacy and research to create a better quality of life for people living with dementia and their carers.
Marie was the General Manager of Alzheimer’s Australia South Australia (AASA) for 10 years before moving to Sydney in 2013 to work for HammondCare in the Dementia Centre alongside Associate Professor Colm Cunningham, an inspirational leader in the industry.
“I had watched the work of the Dementia Centre from afar and visited HammondCare facilities to learn more about their simple model of domestic, homelike cottages for aged care and wanted to be part of this journey and the challenge to make dementia a national health priority.
The Dementia Centre is an international program with offices across Australia and the UK, and Marie’s current role as Head of Implementation supports the strategic stakeholder and political engagement with the organisation’s funders, partners and collaborators.
“I have the best job in the world – I get to work with fantastic teams who translate learning from our clients into new opportunities for funding, research and policy. Every day is different, and I love meeting with people living with dementia and hearing their stories that inform our work and practice.
“It’s the little things that make the biggest difference, and I get so much joy from the people I meet. To hear and see the outcomes they achieve is amazing, to know the work we do really makes a difference.
“Meeting people diagnosed in their 30s, 40s and 50s really challenged me and my skills, but it also taught me so much. People living with dementia are not defined by their disease, and living well with dementia which was unheard of even 15 years ago – has grown so much as a movement.”
From 2009 to 2013, Marie was the Director of the South Australian and Northern Territory Dementia Training Study Centre, which works to influence undergraduate and postgraduate curriculum to ensure there was a focus on dementia and aged care and provide increased training and knowledge transition to students.
“This was an exciting role for me and we had a lot of great partners including UniSA to achieve our goals. We rolled out training in SA to medical and nursing students which provided foundational learning about dementia; some of this training is still in place today.”
While Marie believes there has been real progress in terms of education, training, support and improvement for the lives of people living with dementia, she says it is vital we continue to push for more change, from spreading awareness to building the next generation of leaders in aged care.
“Australia is lucky to have a government who supports funding for dementia; we lead the way in innovative programs and research, such as Dementia Support Australia which offers a world first national behaviour support program.
“We tend to only hear about the bad stories of care, but there is so much good happening and we should hear those stories too. Together we are all accountable for being part of that change.
“We need younger people coming into the field – I see myself as a supporter to their career pathways. Social work is a foundation upon which you can go in any direction, so young graduates need to consider roles that aren’t as traditional as well as the ones core to our discipline.
“Aged care and dementia is an industry that will only continue to grow, but more than that it is an area in which you can use all of your skills to build and develop change and make a real difference.”
