The Alzheimer?s Australia 15th National Conference held on 14-17 MayJournal Watch2013 In Hobart (Tasmania, Australia) attracted a Wide range of attendees,including people living with dementia, family caregivers, healthprofessionals and researchers. The conference theme, The Tiles of Life ASk the EXpertSColoring the Future, invoking a vision of a better future for those affectedby dementia, had seven subthemes: liberation, rehabilitation, leisure, InterV?eWservice, creativity, wellbeing and research.Conference SceneNatalie Jackson?s (University of Waikato, affect all aspects of society; build a bufferNew Zealand) eye-opening plenary (service by revisiting and revising policies (e.g., bysubtheme) ?Population aging and Alzheim- considering the value of increased migra-er?s ? an A-B-C approach? explored aging tion of young people); and collaborate andand dementia in developed societies. Over conserve, given that increasingly scarcethe next 20 years, population aging will resources will be spread among expandinglead to an extremely rapid increase, a dou- numbers of people needing care, collabora-bling in fact, of the numbers of people with tive models of service delivery may be moredementia, owing to the size and longer life effective compared with competitive ones.expectancy of the baby-boom generation, Tony Broe (University of New Southexacerbated by the steeply curved increase Wales [Sydney, Australia]/ Neurosciencein dementia prevalence with age. Over the Research Australia [Sydney, Australia])same period, the fall in birth rates post-baby gave an important plenary (liberationboom will lead to only a modest (a third) subtheme), ?Brain health and dementiaincrease in the supply of working-age peo- in urban Aboriginal Australians: out-ple, which is completely insufficient to cope comes from the Koori Growing Old Wellwith greatly increased service demands. Study?, reporting on dementia prevalenceJackson?s proposed A-B-C response to among urban Aboriginal Australians [101].this supply-demand crisis in developed Aboriginals have a young age distributioncountries was: accept that population and a typically younger onset of dementiaaging will lead to significantly increased symptoms. However, as for the generalnumbers of people with dementia and will population, the number of Aboriginals withlDementia Collaborative Research Centre, School of Nursing, Queensland University ofTechnology, Queensland,Australia Future 70??;2School of Nursing