Café aims to address memory loss

As Barbados faces the reality of becoming a “super-aged society”, an initiative was launched that promised to transform how the island supports those affected by memory loss. Memory Café Barbados emerged in 2023 as a lifeline for an often-overlooked community.

Established as a registered charity under he University of the West Indies (UWI) Cave Hill Campus, the Memory Café concept is built upon a model that originated in the Netherlands in 1997. Under the supervision of Thérèºse James, lecturer and director of field education at UWI, Memory Café Barbados is managed by a dedicated team of student interns and graduates.

“The Memory Café is basically a safe space for persons living with memory loss as well as their caregivers,” said Tahira Tatem, one of the programme’s organisers.

“We know that caregivers who are taking care of their loved ones living with memory loss are undertaking a great task.”

The programme addresses a critical need in Barbados, which has the highest percentage of older adults in the Caribbean.

“Being that it has that high percentage of older adults, the issue of memory loss tends to also be associated with that age group,” noted James. She explained that many caregivers and their loved ones faced stigma in public settings, leading to isolation.

Stigma-free environment

“They feel that when they’re out and about with their loved ones, they feel stigmatised,” James said.

“They’re not always comfortable in the environment that they’re in. So the Memory Café provides a stigmafree environment where you can come and you have persons who are trained volunteers and persons working in a team who will know how to interact with these individuals,” she added.

In addition to the monthly café sessions, the organisation offers a closed support group specifically for caregivers and conducted public awareness campaigns.

Jakeem Sealy, who helped establish the initiative, emphasised the importance of the support group component.

“Caregivers experience, more often than not, something called caregiver burden or caregiver burnout, which basically is the emotional toil and the emotional strain that comes on caregivers as a result of caring for their loved ones,” he said.

Research showed that caring for someone with memory loss was particularly challenging.

“It is more challenging than caring for someone who has cancer. It is more challenging than caring for someone who has heart disease, based on the research that we would have done,” Sealy noted.

A distinctive feature of the cafe was its focus on fostering intergenerational connections through volunteers. Social work intern Sarah Holder explained why this approach was so valuable: “One of the major things that come along with people living with memory loss is the sense of isolation. So the way that we went about fostering intergenerational connections through volunteers, allows them to participate in social activities with persons younger than them.”

Memories

Fellow social work intern, Shauntel Boyce added that these interactions benefited both generations.

“Seeing as an older adult living with memory loss, seeing the youth and having that youthfulness surrounding them can bring back a lot of memories as well,” she said.

“These interactions help with the cognitive development of those experiencing memory loss, while younger participants gained wisdom from their elders.”

Monthly session features themed activities and decorations.

“For the session held in February, we had hearts and decorations like that because of Valentine’s” Boyce explained. “The first session we ever had was in November . . . so the activities were Independence themed.”

Memory Café Barbados also works to educate the public about memory loss. Sealy addressed a common misconception: “A common myth that persons have is that memory loss is inevitable as you get older . . . . But that’s necessarily not the case.”

He explained that memory loss could affect younger people through traumatic brain injury or early-onset dementia. While certain risk factors like age, genetics, and family history couldn’t be modified, others could be addressed to potentially reduce the risk of developing memory loss.

Sealy said these modifiable risk factors included the noncommunicable diseases.

“A lot of research has shown that non-communicable diseases, for example, hypertension, obesity and diabetes, these three things are modifiable risk factors that are often associated with memory loss,” he said.

He pointed to additional risk factors: “There’s also things like depression and excessive alcohol consumption, obesity, lack of physical activity.”

This connection between common health conditions and memory loss highlighted both challenges and opportunities for the island nation.

“There are things that you can do as an individual, as a family, as a community, and as a nation that may be able to minimise your risk of experiencing memory loss,” Sealy emphasised. “We as a nation, as a people, we can age healthy. We can do things while we are young to help mitigate some of the effects of memory loss as we get older.”( DDS)

Members of the Memory Café:

(from left) Jakeem Sealy, Thérèse James, Shauntel Boyce, Sarah Holder, Tahira Tatem and Jackie Beckles. (GP)