Baby Boomers -- Caring for the future

The Department of Health and Ageing has awarded a $33,000 grant to Dr Christopher King as chief investigator and Professor Carol Morse as Co-chief investigator to explore the "Information and service needs of the ‘baby-boom’ generation as carers of persons with dementia, and as future receivers of care".

Professor Morse explains that the information and service needs of the ‘baby-boom’ generation as carers of persons with dementia, and as future receivers of care are distinct from those of their parents’ generation and of their own children.

"Appropriate dementia support services need to be urgently developed that meet multi-generational needs. The proposed project will be focus on the Mornington Peninsula region -- a community that is demographically the most rapidly ageing region of Victoria with 33.6 percent of its population aged between 40 and 64 years," she explained.

Project Manager Dr Rosalind Lau from Monash Peninsula is looking to develop communication between the 'baby boom' residents and community-based dementia service providers in order to raise awareness of dementia among the group, to understand their dementia support needs as carers and care recipients and to collaboratively develop and promote at the community level, services that better meet their needs

This project is collaborative in its design with Monash staff working with Ms Lynn Gray from Peninsula Health and Ms Sue Leake from the Commonwealth Carer Respite Centre, Southern Metropolitan Region .