Dementia can’t wait: ‘No More Silent Battles’ documentary coming to Port Hope

Dr. Jenny Ingram’s research work over the last decade through Trent and McGill universities has focused on how to assist primary care physicians to adapt to the boom of seniors. She has studied and published about the key aspects to ensure that family physicians are able to diagnose dementia. Her ‘No More Silent Battles’ documentary about dementia care is coming to Port Hope’s Capitol Theatre on Nov. 1. /Dr. Jenny Ingram photo

Special submission by Dr. Jenny Ingram, geriatric medicine specialist

Ask almost anyone where they would want to live if they had Alzheimer’s disease, and the answer is the same – at home.

My documentary “No More Silent Battles” coming to Port Hope’s Capitol Theatre on Sunday, Nov. 1 shows what it takes to make that happen, and why Ontario’s health-care system must adapt.

Many local families know me from 35 years of consulting in this area through the Family Health Teams and later the GAIN geriatric teams.

I am now taking No More Silent Battles across Ontario – from Timmins to Toronto and Ottawa to London – and I hear the same refrain everywhere. Families are exhausted and feel alone. They often describe a system that worked against them.

Early dementia is invisible to most untrained eyes. That is why home-care that starts at the first signs is so critical to success. People are floundering silently at home, missing medications and appointments, arguing over shopping lists, misplaced bills or repeated instructions, unaware of the crisis brewing. The early days are the critical days when front-line staff are needed most.

The Alzheimer Society’s “Landmark Study” projects that the number of Canadians living with dementia will nearly triple by 2050. If things do not change, all of healthcare will feel the pinch.

Ontario Health at Home runs on a model built for physical ailments that recover, not for a progressive dementia that unfolds over years. Services are rationed in small, prescriptive time blocks, with an unwritten expectation that families will fill every gap. But what happens when someone has a low income or no family nearby?

Many people assume that long wait-lists, and patients stuck in hospital unable to go home or move to long-term care, mean Ontario needs more long-term care beds. That is not the case. Canada actually has more long-term care beds for every 1,000 seniors than the Scandinavian countries and the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development average. Yet in Denmark, the share of hospital beds taken up by people unable to go home is only about two per cent, a level unknown in Canada.

Why? Because Denmark has rock-solid home care that starts when you first get a diagnosis of dementia and partners with you throughout the journey. That makes returning home from hospital not only possible but expected.

Bill 121, the “Improving Dementia Care in Ontario Act,” passed with all-party support in 2024 and requires the minister of health to table a provincial dementia framework this year. So we wait to see if the minister understands that a plan without funding is only a wish, and a plan that funds more of the same is a waste.

On Sunday, Nov. 1, come to Port Hope’s Capitol Theatre to see No More Silent Battles and hear me discuss the reforms these courageous families have endorsed. Afterward, four people featured in the documentary will be in the lobby to meet you, with treats sponsored by Jessica Hillman, of the Pulse Cafe and Eatery.

Doors open at 1 p.m., and the film starts at 2 p.m. Tickets will be available at the door.

If you are caring for someone with dementia, worried about a parent or simply planning to grow old in Northumberland, this afternoon is for you. The silent battles have gone on long enough. Let’s make some noise.

Dr. Jenny Ingram is a geriatric medicine specialist who is described as a trailblazer in senior care throughout her career. She founded the Kawartha Centre, a research site to bring international Alzheimer research trials to the region.