Meet the Advocate – Bronte Parkin (Western Australia)
Bronte Parkin became an active Dementia Australia Dementia Advocate 12 years ago after his wife, Dr Glenda Parkin, was diagnosed at age 56 with a rare form of dementia known as Posterior Cortical Atrophy, sometimes referred to as the visual variant of Alzheimer’s disease.
He and Glenda, who was also an Advocate, were very open about their journey with dementia. The pair were involved in many activities such as presentations at public events and conferences, interviews for the media, and representation on national and state committees.
Bronte cared for Glenda at home for 10 years until July 2020 with some assistance from the NDIS. Now that Glenda lives full time in residential aged care, Bronte’s recent focus has been on dementia within that sector.
Bronte is heavily involved in research activities as a way of keeping his own brain active. He is currently Dementia Australia’s advocate representative on two committees of the Australian Commission on Safety and Quality in Health Care (ACSQHC) reviewing the clinical care standards in aged care and the use of psychotropic medicines in managing changed behaviours. This follows the Federal Government’s acceptance of the recommendations of the Royal Commission into Aged Care.
He is also involved as a potential investigator in a number of current university research proposals on dementia submitted for Federal funding through the National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) and the Medical Research Future Fund (MRFF). He is also the Co–Chair of Curtin University’s Brain Health Research Community Advisory Committee and is a trained peer-to-peer leader for Dementia Australia’s peer support program.
To find out how you, like Bronte, can get involved in activities contact your state or territory’s Consumer Engagement Coordinator.