Bendigo couple faces dementia head on, with a little help from nature

"Nature is my environment," he said. "I love to be out and about and doing things and being busy."

When he was diagnosed with dementia a little over two years ago, the last thing Kevin wanted was to be isolated at home, twiddling his thumbs.

Kevin, who was in the early stages of dementia, connected with the Loddon Mallee GreenConnect project, led by the Heathcote Dementia Alliance to use the power of nature as respite.

The project involved people with dementia and their carers getting out in nature, participating in bushwalks and visiting dementia-inclusive gardens and events.

At the Atisha Centre, a small group was partaking in a two-day retreat involving gardening, dementia-friendly games, mindfulness and meditation.

Kevin is cared for by his wife Pamela.

The couple met in France in the mid 2000s while travelling, and lived in their home country of England before moving to Sydney, close to Pamela's family.

Twelve months ago, the couple stumbled across Bendigo while looking for a cheaper place to live.

After the move, Pamela said her husband's dementia became more noticeable, forgetting passwords and having troubles with technology.

In Bendigo, they came across Uniting AgedWell and GreenConnect, which helped both Kevin and Pamela with social groups and activities.

"Uniting AgeWell were very proactive and said to Kevin, 'right, you're going off to men's group on Tuesday'," she said.

"And they said to me, you are going off to a carers' meeting once a month.

"We are meeting so many people and that's the power; I've now got a burgeoning address book with all these emails and positive people in there."

GreenConnect is a three-year pilot project made possible with $1.7 million funding from the federal government.

Project manager and president of the Heathcote Dementia Alliance Sandra Slatter said nature-based activities had already been organised for people with dementia and their carers in the Bendigo, Daylesford, and Mildura regions.

"The feedback from these excursions has been overwhelmingly positive with people with dementia and their carers enjoying quality and therapeutic time away and outdoors, with support provided by the wonderful volunteers from Care Friends," Ms Slatter said.

Ms Slatter said the program also placed emphasis on the well-being of carers.

"Many caregivers reported exhaustion from looking after those with dementia and stressed the need for more, affordable and easily accessible respite programs and better-trained service operators to help relieve the pressure," she said.

Pamela said she encouraged anyone diagnosed with dementia and their carers to give GreenConnect a go.

"I can't speak highly enough of it because it opens doors like this for us where we are outdoors and activity-based," she said.

"If we don't get enough people interested in joining us to get this project off the ground, I think the government will unfortunately lose interest."

Kevin said the program had been "invaluable".

"I instantly made friends there and everybody needs them and we have a lot of fun together ... it's lovely," he said.