Dog Day Morning

Thursday November 5, 2009

Dog day afternoon

WHEEL POWER
By ANTHONY THANASAYAN

CAT’s dog forum proved to be a howling success.
THE Canine Advisory Team (CAT) decided to hold its first-ever dog forum recently. CAT is a committee set up by the Petaling Jaya City Council (MBPJ) to look into animal issues.
As chairman of the group and MBPJ Councillor, I was tasked with leading the organising team.
The purpose of the forum was to bring together pet lovers and people who do not own dogs. This was to help both sides appreciate the role of canines, and try to find solutions to the many problems dogs present to people without canines. The forum was a big success.
We covered a range of issues, from the responsibility of pet owners to pet rights, canine cruelty and abuse, and even animal-assisted therapy.
The fact that people with disabilities and the elderly also participated in the half-day weekend forum turned the occasion into a meaningful one for everybody involved.
I received feedback from some of the participants – all able-bodied – that they were rather surprised to see the disabled and elderly participating at the event.
The sight of wheelchairs and people with white canes (the blind) made them wonder if they had stumbled into a “disabled association’s event.”
One pet lover who did not have any disabled friends, said she had no idea that pets, especially dogs, played a key role in the lives of the handicapped.
One of the chief issues raised at the forum was the request for free dog licences for the disabled and the elderly, from all the local councils in Selangor. The waivers would serve as the local councils’ recognition of the therapeutic role that dogs play in the lives of vulnerable groups.
Someone with a progressive condition like Parkinson’s disease would benefit a great deal by taking his or her dog out for a walk in the park instead of sitting by the television all day.
An unmotivated paralysed accident victim lying in bed would be able to channel his attention on his pet, rather than entertain suicidal thoughts.
Currently, only Shah Alam provides free dog licences for disabled dog owners, whilst the elderly are given 50% off.
A dog owner who is paralysed from the neck down, told me that he lives in fear that the local council might come to his house one day and confiscate his dog because he does not have a licence.
“I’ve been jobless since I became disabled and every sen counts. Besides, I have no one who can go to the local council to get a licence for me,” he added, pointing out that his only pal now is a mongrel.
Two of the speakers at the dog forum were persons with disabilities.
Our CAT team made sure that parking lots nearest to the entrance were reserved for disabled drivers.
The security guards were also instructed to assist the handicapped when they got there.
This was in addition to some of the volunteers who were invited specially to assist the disabled.
All of us came away from the forum, having learnt something new that day. For some, it may have been about animals and our need to respect their rights and co-exist with them. For others, it may have been about how NGOs and local councils function.
And for others still, how a simple and small step of support can go a long way for some special people.

Thursday October 29, 2009

Witching hour

WHEEL POWER
By ANTHONY THANASAYAN

The celebration of all things spooky kicks off this weekend.
FANS of vampires, werewolves, ghosts and ghouls – and creatures that go bump in the night – will celebrate Halloween this weekend.
Some will be attending costume parties; others will play pranks on their friends or watch horror films at home.
Armed with a really scary horror storybook, Inungkiran Mongijal from Balakong, Selangor, is looking forward to the Halloween weekend. Except that it won’t be an ordinary book for the 48-year-old who hails from Kudat, Sabah.
Inungkiran, who was born blind, works as a proof-reader at the Malaysian Braille Press office in Brickfields, Kuala Lumpur. She will be turning to a “talking book” for her weekend entertainment.
Talking books are audio materials read by the sighted on CDs or cassettes which the blind use to catch up on their reading.
“Ghost stories used to fascinate my friends and I when we were 10 or 11 and,” said Inungkiran, recalling her childhood days at the St Nicholas Home for the Blind in Penang.
“We used to think that even our school was haunted, following several unexplained happenings,” she added.

Inungkiran remembers a time when she and her roommate were jolted out of their sleep at 3am. They heard strange footsteps on high heels in their dormitory.
“What was eerie was that the ‘ghost’ sounded very much like one of our friend’s mother. ‘She’ even started to speak in soft and hushed tones,” said Inungkiran.
“Some people think that being blind is a nightmare,” said Inungkiran who has a brother and a sister who are also blind. “This is not true. There is nothing to fear about being blind. We are just like anyone else, and wish to have a great time, too.
“Horror movies play an important part in my life. Reading or even ‘watching’ a frightening show heightens my imagination,” added Inungkiran.
Daniel Ahmad Sharani, 33, could not agree more. Daniel suffered a real-life horror experience of his own.
Daniel and his best friend – both 18 at that time – were knocked down by a car. Daniel who was riding pillion became paralysed from the neck down. His buddy died on the spot.
Today, 15 years on, Daniel has put the past behind him.
“Ghosts stories have intrigued me since I was a kid,” said Daniel. “My uncle was a prankster and brilliant storyteller. My cousins and I were fooled by him. We were pre-teens at that time. My uncle promised to make the elusive toyol (a mystical spirit) appear before us.”
After switching off all the lights in the room, they were asked to wipe their faces three times with water from a bowl that contained a “mysterious potion”. When the lights came on again, everyone discovered that their faces were all black, turning each of them into a regular toyol.
“We had a great laugh over that. Movies like Salem’s Lot and Night Of The Living Dead, and the recent local horror flick, Momok are great.
“Horror movies with their shock factor, which I regard as nothing more than pure entertainment, offer great therapy. They help me to forget my problems for a while.
“I don’t believe half of the things that I see in the scary movies. So I am amused when some quarters recently called for the banning of horror films. Just because I enjoy watching scary movies, does not make me a witch or zombie. Besides, it’s great to have a variety of movie genres to choose from. As adults we have a choice. We can decide what we wish to watch and make the right decisions for our kids.
“If people are upset about a particular movie, don’t go to the cinema to watch it or just turn the TV off.
“As for me, I’m planning to spend my weekend catching the Simpson’s Halloween marathon on telly,” Daniel added.
Happy Halloween, everyone!

Thursday October 15, 2009

Global concern

WHEEL POWER
By ANTHONY THANASAYAN

Mental disorders could become a worldwide problem by 2020.
LAST Saturday was World Mental Health Day. The World Health Organisation views mental health as a serious global issue. More than 450 million people have a mental health condition and live with it every day.
Dr Andrew Mohanraj, a psychiatrist, talks about one of the most misunderstood and most feared disabling conditions and diseases.
PB was a straight As student. Then at the age of 20, everything suddenly changed. His performance took a serious dip and he often wandered around town aimlessly. At home he locked himself in his room to avoid his family. He stopped drinking water at home because he feared it was contaminated. He began hearing strange voices and became a chain smoker.
His family suspected he was mixing with bad company and thought he was on drugs.
But it wasn’t until he was referred to a psychiatrist that he was diagnosed with schizophrenia. After medication which he still takes daily, the “voices” ceased and he successfully finished his studies and works in an IT company today.
SD, a mother with two children, was a successful bank officer until her life came crashing down when her husband left her for another woman. She couldn’t concentrate on her work, began to lose weight and had to send her children away to be looked after by her parents. She felt guilty and blamed herself for her marriage breakup and became suicidal.
A friend helped her see a psychiatrist who started her on anti-depressants. Now six months later, SD is much better and has reunited with her children.
“World Mental Health Day offers an excellent opportunity for us to think about people with mental illness,” says Dr Andrew who works as Director of Aceh Psychosocial Rehabilitation Programme which he helped set up after the 2004 tsunami.
The technical adviser on mental health for the Department of Health, Province of Aceh, Indonesia, who is currently planning a similar programme in West Sumatra after the recent earthquakes there, pointed out that mental disorders occur in all cultures and at all stages of life, and are often linked to marginalisation and social disadvantage.
“The burden caused by mental disorders is often underestimated,” he adds. “At present, out of the 10 leading causes of suffering worldwide, five are psychological conditions, including depression.
“By the year 2020, depression will become the second largest cause of suffering – next only to heart disease.”
According to Dr Andrew, depression and schizophrenia are only two mental disorders among an array of psychological conditions that warrant medical or psychological attention.
Depression often goes unnoticed because some cultures ignore it. “While sadness can be considered normal and transient, depression is caused by the interaction of biological and environmental causes and can manifest in psychological and physical symptoms, including suicidal thoughts and intentions,” Dr Andrew points out.
“Chemical changes in the brain can lead to depression without any external precipitating factor.”
Schizophrenia, often first seen in late teens or young adulthood, is a more prolonged brain disorder. The hearing of “voices” or the belief that one’s mind is being read or controlled by someone else is sometimes attributed to sorcery.
Dr Andrew also points out that violence is not a symptom of schizophrenia.
“Most people with schizophrenia are withdrawn and prefer to be left alone,” says Dr Andrew. “Drugs or alcohol abuse raises the risk of violence in people with schizophrenia, particularly if the illness is untreated, but then this is also true of people who have no mental illness but abuse drugs or alcohol.”
“With early detection, schizophrenia can be controlled and people suffering from this illness can lead productive lives.
“They need not be unnecessarily subjected to social isolation. Fortunately in Malaysia, our primary health centres and hospitals are well stocked with basic psychotropic drugs.
“However, we may need to be more forceful in taking a community-based approach where people with mental illness are treated within their local environment and hospitalised only when absolutely needed.
“One step towards this would be the establishment of outreach teams that make home visits. This provides an opportunity for the family members of those suffering from severe mental illness to participate in the therapeutic intervention and appreciate the fact that family support is crucial for recovery,” concludes Dr Andrew.

Dementia - A Growing Concern

Thursday October 8, 2009

A growing concern

WHEEL POWER
By ANTHONY THANASAYAN

Dementia is on the rise as life expectancy increases.
INTERNATIONAL Day of Older Persons was observed last Thursday. A recent report suggested that more people are living longer these days, hence the chances of people getting dementia have increased.
This, according to experts on ageing in Britain, means that the burden of Alzheimer’s and other types of dementia has been underestimated.
The report from King’s College London, featured on BBC Online, indicates that more than 115 million people across the globe will suffer from dementia by the year 2050. What’s of concern is that this prediction is 10% more than figures published in 2005, driven mainly by new figures from South Asia and Latin America.
The UK Alzheimer’s Society says the data shows the “scale of the challenge”. According to the BBC, the rise in dementia, fuelled by increasing life expectancy in countries around the world, is causing widespread concern. The strain of caring for people with dementia is a social and economic issue, placing a growing burden on the working population and health system.
The King’s College London research is part of the 2009 World Alzheimer’s Report. It was published by the Alzheimer’s Disease International which estimates that there will be 35 million people worldwide with dementia by next year. That number is set to almost double every 20 years, to 65.7 million in 2030 and 115.4 million in 2050. The BBC goes on to say that advances in healthcare and nutrition will have the biggest impact in poorer countries and, as a result, the number of older people is set to increase rapidly.
Alzheimer’s Disease International stressed that countries around the world should follow in the footsteps of Australia, France, South Korea and Britain, and develop action plans to tackle the impact of the disease.
Meanwhile, Professor Philip Poi, Head of Geriatric Medicine from Universiti Malaya, explained dementia in our local setting.
“Dementia has many forms. They all involve the degeneration of nerve cells in the brain that affect memory and mental function and eventually impede the person’s ability for self-care or to function independently in the community,” says Prof Poi.
He points out that dementia can severely limit a person’s ability to recall events or to dress, clean and feed himself. The ability to have a proper conversation may also be affected along with driving skills and decision-making.
“Dementia is still unfamiliar to the ordinary Malaysian as many sufferers appear normal until the condition becomes severe,” says Prof Poi. “Alzheimer’s is the commonest form of dementia, afflicting about one in every five elderly Malaysians over the age of 80.”
Prof Poi says that awareness is the key to helping people with dementia. The Government’s campaign for a healthy lifestyle such as controlling the contributing factors of diabetes mellitus and high blood pressure will help prevent some people from developing dementia. “Detecting and diagnosing the condition – as well as providing support services for those with dementia – have to be developed in tandem,” says Prof Poi.
Dr Poi outlines some of the measures:
> Medical identification bracelets for all dementia patients to ensure appropriate help when they are lost or confused.
> Access to home healthcare with trained part-time or full-time companions or domestic helpers.
> National support service with trained caregivers. Currently such resources are limited and may only be found in larger towns.
> Assisted-living accommodation – with trained staff – for persons with dementia.
> All nursing homes should have nursing aides who have had basic training in handling different levels of dementia.
“People with dementia need clear signages to help them find their way around, So shopping malls should provide clear meeting points to help the memory-impaired. All of us should strive to help people with dementia by being patient with them and giving them loving care. This requires a paradigm shift in how we view this disabling condition,” adds Prof Poi.

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