The Geriatric Flying Squad’s team of medical, nursing and allied health professionals is successfully bridging the gap between aged care outpatient and emergency services by helping clients, most of whom have dementia, avoid a visit to the ED or admission to hospital. Diane Gellatly reports

Australia’s Royal Commission into Aged Care Quality and Safety should not ignore the opportunity to address human rights violations, specifically for those living in residential aged care and people with dementia, argue Carmelle Peisah and Tiffany Jessop

Kate Laver reports on the positive outcomes emerging from the Agents of Change project, which has seen health care professionals across Australia implementing initiatives to improve the quality of care for people with dementia

Sanetta du Toit leads the Dementia in Prisons project which is exploring best care options to support ageing prisoners living with dementia

Karen Thode is exploring the potential of this Japanese artform as a therapeutic activity in dementia care and encourages interested lifestyle coordinators to join a pilot study in Melbourne

Lyn Phillipson reports on an innovative research project she is leading at the University of Wollongong in NSW to support and enhance the social health of people with dementia

Mary Fridley and Susan Massad introduce their Joy of Dementia workshops, and explain how improvisational play – with its emphasis on seeing, accepting and creating – gives us the most humanising shot at relating to the strangeness and uncertainty of dementia in ways that promote intimacy and growth, rather than anger and shame

The East Metropolitan Health Service (EMHS) in Western Australia is the first metropolitan health service in Australia to be officially recognised by Dementia Australia as ‘working towards being dementia friendly’. Ellie Newman describes the key steps in achieving this recognition

Catherine Daly has developed a support program that emphasises the role of occupational therapists in rehabilitating the spirit and helping people with dementia and their care partners come to a place of balance and hope after a diagnosis