9 Victoria men facing early-onset dementia pivot to maintain active lives

9 Victoria men facing early-onset dementia pivot to maintain active lives

Published 5:30 am Saturday, March 14, 2026

Entering early retirement in the face of a dementia diagnosis can be daunting at the best of times.

Team Pivot fills that void for folks in Victoria who want to stay active while dealing with the effects of their condition.

It’s a program that almost developed itself, said facilitator Debra Sheets, a professor emerita with the UVic School of Nursing, who already leads busy and successful Memory Cafe programs.

While mental and physical aspects are often addressed, social needs are skipped for people facing dementia, which can come with a stigma that spurs isolation. Sheets founded the community-based Memory Cafe that provides continuous social connection, arts and support for people living with dementia and their care partners. Meetings are held in safe, welcoming and engaging environments.

“When people have memory loss, they lose some initiative,” Sheets said. “They stop engaging, along with becoming depressed and anxious, learning new things like singing, writing, learning to drum or paint … they’ll keep your brain more nimble, they’ll help create new neurons.”

Team Pivot fills a similar gap in social needs, for what’s frequently a younger demographic.

Island Health reached out to a handful of folks with early-onset dementia who didn’t have specific programs. There are many for what Sheets calls geriatric dementia, diagnosed later in life. Often age-related, the risk of dementia doubles every year after age 65.

“By then you’re often retired and it’s a different part of the life course,” she said.

The new group offers friendship and connection for an especially young group of people living with dementia. Young onset is frequently diagnosed before age 65.

“They’re so young and they’re facing huge changes. They find themselves having to pivot,” Sheets said. “It’s quite a change for them and their families, for their partners.”

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While decline is a certainty, everyone’s trajectory is different, particularly with early onset.

“The more important thing is to help them sustain a good quality of life,” Sheets said. “It’s truly those connections that make life meaningful.”

Team Pivot goes canoeing, hiking, bowling, mini golfing and engages in enthusiastic table tennis. They plan to literally set sail this spring. It’s really a program designed alongside the nine men enrolled, Sheets said.

“It gives them something to look forward to each week, and they’re meeting new friends and starting to feel like they have a new life again,” she said. “There’s a lot that can be done to help people live well until they die.”

It’s about more than filling time playing puzzles and watching TV, but finding things that are fun and provide meaning for them. They’ll pick with LifeCycles this spring and are looking at other non-profits to figure out ways to integrate.

Size is limited, in part by the use of HandyDarts to get around.

“We’ll keep a wait list, and if we get funding and reach a certain demand, I’ll make the argument we need to start another group,” Sheets said. Victoria Foundation and New Horizons James Bay are supporting this round.

“That’s made it all possible. It takes more than an idea.”

Visit memoryconnections.org to see more programs or email info@memoryconnections.org to get on a wait list.

Do you have something to add to this story, or something else we should report on?

Email: christine.vanreeuwyk@blackpress.ca

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