Mr Simpson is one of two local representatives who have been chosen to speak at the National Dementia Conference, to be held at the Crown Promenade in Melbourne on June 16 and 17.
He will join Jennifer Savage from Kyabram Community Learning Centre to talk to a room filled with executives, university professors and students and dementia specialists about the issues facing regional residents living with dementia.
Initially slated for a panel discussion, Mr Simpson's role has been elevated — he'll now open the conference as its first speaker.
While he’s no stranger around town, Mr Simpson is a key champion behind the scenes for hundreds living with dementia across the region.
Mr Simpson organised a walk to Melbourne from Kyabram for dementia awareness in 2023, and founded ‘Don't Demention It’', a Kyabram-based support group that draws members from as far as Shepparton and Echuca for monthly meetings.
He also co-writes the ‘When memory fades’ column in the Free Press once a month, along with carers, to explain the internal battles faced by those who experience dementia or by proxy.
While his selection for a speaker role would come as no shock to many around him, Mr Simpson said he never could have imagined where he would be now three years ago.
“Even to be called down to be on the panel was pretty significant … but to be a speaker, it’s just, wow,” he said.
“When I got asked, I told them to make sure that I had a few shots of whisky in the coffee.”
In his address, Mr Simpson aims to passionately advocate for equal dementia support in regional areas, matching the resources available in cities.
“Here in regional Victoria, we have our little pockets and there are lots of us here … but it’s those little pockets in between that often get left out — we need more people on the ground,” Mr Simpson said.
“We do a pretty good job here, and we support a lot of people with dementia, but there’s still a lot of anxiety where there are people who have dementia who don’t want to come out of their homes, and we’ve got to get them out.
“I just want to tell these people (at the conference) what is going on regionally — tell them what we are doing, but also tell them that we need more help.”
Mr Simpson said he was proud to see how the awareness had spread since his very first walk from Echuca to Kyabram, and thanked the team at KCLC and Kyabram District Health Service for their support along the way.
“Four or five years ago, all I was doing was helping someone out and see if I could bring a bit of awareness,” he said.
“But this — this is bloody good.”
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