| Ms Sue Pieters-Hawke (second left) was special guest at the Dementia ... Ms Sue Pieters-Hawke (second left) was special guest at the Dementia Awareness Ball. She is pictured with (from left) the Director of Dementia Services Development Centre, Richard Fleming; EADTSC Director, Associate Professor Victoria Traynor; the Regional Director of United Aged Care, Marissa Mastroianni and Dean of the Faculty of Health and Behavioural Sciences, Professor Patrick Crookes. |
Daughter of former PM special guest at ‘Dementia Awareness Ball’
24 Sep 2007 | Bernie Goldie
The Eastern Australian Dementia Training and Study Centre hosted the first ‘Dementia Awareness Ball’ in the Illawarra on Friday 21 September at the Wollongong Novotel.
The timing of the ball was planned to coincide with the 2007 World Alzheimer’s Day which every year commemorates the discovery, more than 100 years ago, of Alzheimer’s Disease.
The purpose of the ball was to raise awareness about dementia by promoting discussion within our communities about dementia and bringing the condition out of the shadows to reduce the stigma attached to having a diagnosis of dementia.
The special honorary guest was Ms Sue Pieters-Hawke, daughter of former Prime Minister Bob Hawke, who spoke about her personal experiences of caring for her mother, Hazel Hawke, who was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s Disease a number of years ago.
The ‘Dementia Awareness Ball’ was also the official opening of the Eastern Australian Dementia Training and Study Centre (EADTSC) which is hosted by the University of Wollongong in NSW and Queensland University of Technology in Queensland with industry partners Hammond Care Group, UnitingCare: Ageing RSL Care and Blue Care.
“EADTSC was established in June 2006 and has hosted a number of national and international dementia world experts, in the Illawarra and Queensland, who have developed models of improving dementia and improving the quality of life for people with dementia and their carers,” according to EADTSC Director, Associate Professor Victoria Traynor.
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