Highlighting the need for early prevention against developing dementia, a medical charity that rebranded this month seeks to change the island’s narrative surrounding the condition.

Erica Fulton, head of what was formerly Action on Alzheimer’s and Dementia and is now Dementia Bermuda, said the charity was growing its clinical capabilities as part of offering broader support for care.

Part of its mission is for early education on “thinking about the brain as a muscle”, Ms Fulton said, to teach healthier habits that could ward off developing the condition later in life.

“A long-term goal we have for the organisation is having five, six, seven-year-olds thinking about brain health — understanding that these changes can occur as we get older, and there are things we can do that will help.

“We also want to change the community’s mindset and normalise the conversation around thinking about brain health.”

Poor exercise, smoking and consumption of alcohol as well as head injuries can factor into developing dementia later in life, she said.

Dementia shares risk factors with many other noncommunicable diseases, and conditions such as diabetes, high blood pressure and obesity can factor into it.

The Lancet medical journal published findings this year showing that 45 per cent of cases of dementia could be delayed or reduced through addressing treatable factors such as hearing loss, social isolation and depression.

Ms Fulton said: “We want to see people really thinking about the brain as a muscle decades before any symptoms of disease show. If you’re in your twenties and you’ve been educated in this way, it means you could be doing things proactively.”

The charity, launched in 2012, has evolved over the past year to have Ms Fulton appointed as its first executive director, and gradually merging its operations with NorthStar Dementia to offer more clinical services.

Marie Fay, an occupational therapist who manages NorthStar, told The Royal Gazette: “We are much, much stronger together — Erica comes with the non-profit expertise while I come with the clinical perspective.”

While there are no exact figures on the island’s numbers of people with dementia, a condition that includes Alzheimer’s disease, the two said there were likely thousands, with some of them unaware.

“We estimate there could be up to 3,000 people, which is a very big number,” Ms Fulton said.

The island is among many countries lacking a national dementia plan even as its ageing population means numbers will increase.

Ms Fay said: “Part of the issue with data collection specifically pertaining to dementia is the stigma attached to it — people don’t like talking about it — and also that people often get to the end stage and die from a complication that gets listed as the cause of death, as opposed to dementia.”

The group is pushing for earlier diagnosis as well as support for carers to keep a better quality of life for both.

Added Ms Fay: “There are two types of people — those who are going to develop dementia and those who will be caring for them.”

The bulk of care is undertaken by family members, disproportionately women, with some reporting “high levels of stress and caregiver burnout”, she said.

Ms Fay, as the clinical director for Dementia Bermuda, is helping to launch its caregiver education and support programme this month.

“Our plan is to have meetings one evening per month, although we still need to secure a meeting space,” she said.

“The idea is to have one topic as an educational component per month, but the other is to have a caregiver support group where people can ask questions and bring their care scenarios to the group.”

Ms Fulton said the name change also “signals our desire to bring these two organisations together”.

“We want to have one co-ordinated wraparound service. We’re trying to be as impactful as we can be by bringing us together as one.”