Nearly 27,000 people with dementia currently live in Estonia and in an aging society, the issue is becoming increasingly acute. A dementia diagnosis affects not only the person with the condition but also their loved ones. Hanna-Stiina Heinmets, who counsels family members on a daily basis, said the loved ones of people with memory disorders most need services that give them a break.

"Their daily job is providing care and they may also be working at the same time. They essentially have two full-time jobs and for the most part, they cannot afford to take days off. They simply need someone to come in and take over the caregiving for a few days," said Hanna-Stiina Heinmets, a consultant at the Dementia Competence Center.

In many municipalities, home care is understood to mean little more than bringing firewood inside and delivering food to a person's home. But if a person with dementia needs help taking medication, for example, Heinmets said the recommendation is often to send them to a nursing home, even though they could still continue living at home. At the same time, nursing homes are reluctant to accept people with severe dementia and some have effectively been thrown out of five or six different nursing homes. A recent study found that access to assistance often depends on where a person lives.

"The situation is generally better in larger population centers. They have day centers and more services. There are more options and more resources. The most difficult situation is in sparsely populated, outlying areas," Praxis analyst Jane Ester said.

Ester said the first step should be to create a comprehensive support system for both people with dementia and their loved ones. Each family affected by dementia should have a designated person responsible for their case who would proactively contact family members, regularly assess what assistance the family needs and help them find it, rather than leaving people to navigate between different agencies on their own.

According to the Ministry of Social Affairs, the planned health and social care reform should improve the situation to some extent. In two years, the ministry hopes to begin testing, with the support of EU funding, solutions that will help people with dementia continue living at home for longer.

"I think these people's lives can be made easier. If we think about what can provide support right now, today, there is the Dementia Competence Center and its information line. That is somewhere people can turn for help today," said Kadri Mets, head of disability rights policy at the Ministry of Social Affairs.

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