BY FAY "Lollie" Burgess's own admission, life in a nursing home can be isolating.
Lack of social contact can lead to depression, which experts say can mimic symptoms of dementia.
Being 80, Mrs Burgess, of Blakehurst Aged Care Centre, has a one-in-four chance of being diagnosed with dementia, a condition she is trying to prevent.
In what one dementia specialist has described as "absolutely marvellous", Mrs Burgess has kept her mind active by writing a 36-page book about her life, inspired by her four sons and late husband Robertson "Bobby" Burgess.
"In a nursing home the days are long and lonely," Mrs Burgess said.
She said the impetus for the book was to have fun and to give others a laugh.
Mrs Burgess' friend Brian Odgers, who connected her with the Illawarra Writers Association for help with My Life in Short Stories said: "the message from this story is for residents in the many aged care facilities in the region to challenge the accepted perception of decline of life".
