The Alzheimer Society of Niagara Region First Link Project is underway in Niagara Region. 

If you or your family member has been diagnosed with
Alzheimer’s disease or related dementia First Link is for you...
When individuals are first diagnosed with Alzheimer disease and other related dementia, they and their families are often overwhelmed with the diagnosis and what it means. Many families don’t contact the Alzheimer Society or seek help until late in the disease process or until a crisis occurs. By this time, caregivers are exhausted and limited in their ability to cope. Navigating the health care system and finding suitable support services can be overwhelming.

An estimated 450,000 Canadians, or 1 in 13 people over 65 (1 in 3 over 85) have a dementia of some kind (Alzheimer Canada). In Niagara Region for 2008, approximately 7,749 individuals (Hopkins 2005) are experiencing a progressive dementia. At any given time, the Alzheimer Society of Niagara Region has 600 families on our caseload.

Thanks to the HNHB LHIN funding, the Alzheimer Society of Niagara Region launched the First Link Program in April 2008. First Link Program will provide access for individuals with dementia and their caregivers to comprehensive and coordinated services by identifying and reaching out to them as early as possible in the disease process and throughout the continuum.   By strengthening the individual and family early on and giving them the information, progressive learning, services and support they need along the way, it is hoped that crises will be minimized or averted.

First Link offers health care professionals a way to connect their patients and families with the Alzheimer Society of Niagara Region for information, support and education at the time of diagnosis.

During the next several months the First Link Coordinator will be contacting  health care professionals to give you more details about First Link, answer your questions and encourage their participation in the First Link program.

For more information about First Link,
please do not hesitate to contact:

Vicki Bragagnolo, Reg.N, BScN, First Link Coordinator
Ph:  905-687-6856 ext. 536         Fax:  905-687-9952
Email:  vbragagnolo@alzheimerniagara.ca