Dementia Australia has congratulated its CEO Maree McCabe, who was appointed a Member of the Order of Australia (AM) in the Queens Birthday Honours List for services to people living with Dementia and the aged care sector.
In light of the honour, we thought it was a good time to look back at an interview with Ms McCabe that originally appeared in the Spring 2019 edition of Community Care Review Magazine.
In it, she speaks candidly about how dementia touched her own family and what motivates her to fight for people living with the disease.
Maree McCabe: on a mission to make a difference
Dementia is something close to Maree McCabe’s heart.
Not just because she’s CEO of Australia’s dementia advocacy and support organisation Dementia Australia, but because she watched her father’s heartbreaking deterioration as he faced his own battle with the disease.
She says she wishes she had known about Dementia Australia back then.
“It took years for dad to get a diagnosis,” she tells Community Care Review.
“He was originally diagnosed with chronic fatigue syndrome, then depression and finally dementia with Lewy bodies.
“My mother cared for dad, ‘protecting his dignity’ and for a long time we were unaware that dad had dementia.
“We certainly knew that dad was different but the onset had been so insidious that we thought it was just that he was getting older.
“We certainly knew that dad was different but the onset had been so insidious that we thought it was just that he was getting older.”
“Eventually mum let us know about dad’s diagnosis.
“There was an incident where mum had a bad fall in the shower and was bleeding profusely. Dad couldn’t remember how to use the phone by then and couldn’t work out how to get help.
“My sister who lived nearby happened to drop by a couple of hours later and found dad crying at the kitchen table saying ‘help mum, help mum’.
It was after that incident that McCabe became aware of the extent of her father’s deterioration and the challenges her mother was facing.
After the sudden death of her mother from a stroke a few months later the family took over caring for their father, until his needs became too high and he moved into residential care.
Making dementia a core business
Today, as CEO, McCabe says she aims to embed dementia as core business in each and every care accreditation standard.
“I wish to fulfil Dementia Australia’s strategic priorities, which include ensuring there is timely dementia diagnosis and support, quality dementia care and that there is reduced levels of discrimination for people living with dementia, their families and their carers.”
“I wish to fulfil Dementia Australia’s strategic priorities, which include ensuring there is timely dementia diagnosis and support, quality dementia care and that there is reduced levels of discrimination for people living with dementia, their families and their carers.
“It is also my mission to make a profound and lasting difference to the lives of people living with dementia and those impacted by it.”
McCabe began her career as a registered nursing aid, trained as a psychiatric nurse and was promoted through the ranks to become director of nursing at the Melbourne Clinic.
In 1999 she moved to Sydney where she took on the role of GM of the Burwood and Richmond Psychiatric Hospitals and then back to Melbourne working at TLC in Executie Operations.
“I loved the role and it gave me great grounding in aged care,” she says.
In 2010 she was appointed CEO for Alzheimers’ Australia VIC and in 2016 became interim CEO of Alzheimer’s Australia before being appointment CEO of Dementia Australia, which was established as a result of the unification of Alzheimer’s Australia state and territory branches.
Challenges and rewards
There have been challenges but also rewards.
The biggest challenge, she says is meeting the needs of the growing numbers of people living with dementia which are expected to hit 1.1 million by 2058.
Another challenge has been the Royal Commission into Aged Care Quality and Safety where she has appeared as a witness.
But McCabe says while some of the stories have been devastating, she believes the commission represents a once in a generation opportunity to transform the industry and bring attention to important issues including dementia care, training and education.
The rewards have including working with “extraordinary people”, including those living with dementia, families and carers and her team.
McCabe also had the opportunity to present and co-chair a session at the the Alzheimer’s Association International Conference (AAIC) in Los Angles in July 2019.
There, she was able to talk about Dementia Australia and its projects, including the Better Visit App and other technology supporting the independence of people living with dementia.
“More broadly, I have the privilege of working with researchers who are leaders in their field, to be part of Commonwealth committees shaping the future of aged care and I get to work with government departments, MPs and the industry at large,” she says.
The opportunity to innovate and to see the work that we have done making a profound difference to people living with dementia, their families and carers is an honour.”
This story was published in the Spring 2019 Edition of Community Care Review Magazine.
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