About two dozen people attended the Newtown Senior Center’s Lunch & Learn program to learn more about how to be a Dementia Friend on January 17.

The hour-long informational session was led by Jessica Warner from the Western Connecticut Area Agency on Aging, who volunteers with Dementia Friends Connecticut.

Everyone attending the gathering received an interactive workbook that also included a variety of web and phone resources.

According to the handout, “Dementia Friends is a global movement developed by the Alzheimer’s Society in the United Kingdom and [is] now underway in the United States.”

Ms Warner explained that by the end of the session attendees can be considered Dementia Friends and help reduce the stigma surrounding dementia.

Starting off the session, Ms Warner asked people from the audience to call out words that they think of when they hear the word “dementia.”

People immediately participated, saying: Alzheimer’s, memory, confusion, irritation, and lost.

Ms Warner acknowledged that the words we tend to associate with dementia are mostly negative, but she emphasized that there is more to a person than just having dementia, and it is possible that people with dementia can have a good quality of life.

When discussing the difference between dementia and Alzheimer’s — words the public commonly interchanges with one another — she explained, “Dementia is not a specific disease. It’s an overall term that describes a wide range of symptoms associated with decline in memory or other thinking skills severe enough to reduce a person’s ability to perform everyday activities.

“Alzheimer’s Disease is the most common type of dementia and accounts for 60 to 80 percent of cases,” she added. “Other types of dementia include Dementia with Lewy Bodies, Frontotemporal Dementia, and Vascular Dementia.”

She explained that while dementia is not a part of normal aging, there are changes to brain functions that happen to people as they age that are typical. For example, while it is normal to sometimes forget names or appointments and then remember them later, memory loss that disrupts daily life is a sign of dementia.

Other early signs and symptoms of dementia include having challenges in planning or solving problems; difficulty completing familiar tasks at home, work, or leisure; confusion with time or place; trouble understanding visual images and spatial relationships; new problems with words in speaking or writing; misplacing things and losing the ability to retrace steps; decreased or poor judgement; withdrawal from work or social activities; and changes in mood or personality.

Dementia Friends’ advice for people communicating with someone with dementia is to treat them with dignity and respect, be aware of your own feelings, be patient and supportive, offer comfort and reassurance, avoid criticizing and correcting, avoid arguing, offer a guess, and encourage nonverbal communication.

At the end of the session, participants were invited to turn their understanding of dementia into taking action, including volunteering with an organization that helps people with dementia and encouraging others to become Dementia Friends.

For more information about Dementia Friends Connecticut, call 860-628-9000 or visit dementiafriendsct.org.