Power To Care Poem by Eric Li

Power to Care
Knowledge is power but where does the knowledge come from?

For me, it started with awareness followed by education and then putting the lessons into practice.

Awareness of dementia began when I contacted the Alzheimer's Society's support line FirstLink. Their workshops and literature educated me. They provided additional support such as check-in calls that helped guide me with confidence in applying what I learned to care for my mother.

Through trial and error I developed the fortitude and strengths of knowledge to navigate my mother's care in the roughest seas to safety.

To have the courage to sit with her through the storms, I am with her.

We appreciate the days when the sailing is smooth, I am with her.

She is no longer alone.

The Alzheimer's Society has helped me build resilience in caregiving and empowered me to navigate the challenges involved. And as a person living with a brain injury I also learned about how to be kinder to myself.

The knowledge and successes I hold today are possible because of their support.

The unpredictable path of dementia can be scary and confusing if walked alone.

Dementia needs not to be dark or kept in the dark as with support and friends in community, life can be colourful.

I have witnessed this expressed in my mother's artwork.

I believe we can activate the hero within us by becoming equipped with knowledge and exercising our power to care.

I have to power to care!

-Eric Li (2024.02.17) revised