Portia’s quiet strength

For years, it has been whispered in political and other circles – both within and outside of the People’s National Party (PNP), the political movement she once led as its first female president – that Portia Simpson Miller, Jamaica’s trailblazing former prime minister, was living with dementia.

Last week, those whispers were confirmed.

Last Wednesday, as Simpson Miller was honoured with one of Cuba’s highest awards – the Medal of Friendship – her husband and “chief protector”, Errald Miller, confirmed for the first time, in a rare interview, that the 79-year-old former leader is indeed living with dementia.

Dementia is a progressive brain condition with symptoms of a mental decline, which often impacts memory, thinking and language.

Today is being observed as World Alzheimer’s Day (World Dementia Day(. The annual September 21 health awareness day aims to increase public understanding of Alzheimer’s disease and other types of dementia. It is a part of the broader World Alzheimer’s Month, which takes place throughout September.

Miller said he has been Simpson Miller’s primary caregiver, fiercely protecting her dignity.

Speaking emotionally after the event, which was held at the Cuban Embassy in Kingston and hosted by Cuban Ambassador Fermín Quiñones, Miller said: “That’s my life. I live for nothing else but her at this time. I have a lot of opportunities, but I have dropped all of those things. I live only for her. Only for her.”

Miller shared that while Simpson Miller has not reached the later, more debilitating stages of the disease, she is facing the challenges typical of dementia – particularly with memory and communication.

“[It’s the] first time I’m going to [publicly] say it to anybody, but she has been going through dementia. ... So she still eats, drinks, sleeps, walks, talks to us who are around. So if you come, you will see her like how [you know her],” Miller said.

He added that a tell-tale sign that she has recognised someone is when she offers one of her well-known hugs and kisses.

“You will probably see her stare at you, and then once you go and get the hug and the kiss, we know that she recognises who it is,” her husband revealed.

A TRAILBLAZING LEGACY

Portia Simpson Miller made history as Jamaica’s first female prime minister, serving from 2006 to 2007 and again from 2012 to 2016. She served as leader of the opposition from 2007 to 2012 and from 2016 to 2017.

She was also the first woman to lead the PNP, holding the presidency from 2006 until 2017.

Her political career spanned four decades in local and central government with several ministerial portfolios over the years. Her premiership saw significant national reforms, including the passage of tax incentive legislation in December 2013 and the implementation of the fiscal rule in March 2014 which curbed the Government’s apetite for spending.

Following the PNP’s defeat in the 2016 general election, Simpson Miller stepped down from leadership a year later and also resigned from the House of Representatives. At the time, there were already murmurs that she was beginning to show early signs of cognitive decline.

QUIET LIFE NOW

Despite her condition, Miller said Simpson Miller still enjoys small routines.

“She’s fun to be with. We enjoy it. There are four of us there. Four of us, [including] somebody from politics who has always been her friend and never let her go, is there most Sundays, and goes with her to the hairdresser. She goes to the hairdresser’s every third Wednesday. So she still does those things,” Miller told The Sunday Gleaner.

Miller also addressed criticisms that he has prevented people from visiting her.

“I know they say that I block Portia [from seeing people]. I don’t block Portia. People come and look for her. And my only requirement during COVID was that if you don’t believe in COVID, don’t come and look for her. Because I saw what COVID did, the kind of response to it, and it has nothing to do with what the paper says. It was rough, rough. And I never wanted her to go through that.

“I was probably the first person in the house ... I went to the States and got vaccinated, and then by the time I came back, a few weeks after, they were ready to do her. And they did the whole house. So that was one of the requirements I had,” Miller explained.

He emphasised another firm boundary: no photographs.

“I didn’t allow any photographs because a lot of people will say nice words about her, but they still want to pull her down. And I’m not allowing it. Not, not, not allowing it. So I don’t allow nobody to come near her. People who come in for photographs, don’t make sense. Don’t come because I’m not going to allow them,” he stated firmly.

A PARTNERSHIP OF CARE

Miller himself still shows signs of the stroke he suffered years ago, during which Simpson Miller cared for him personally while still serving in public office. This testament of love between husband and wife has now come full circle.

He said the only visible change to her in the last few years is that she no longer picks up the phone.

“Although I was away the other day and she was responding [on the phone], so I never know. I would be lying if I say I get in a long sentence, no. But, ‘How are you?’ ‘Is that you?’ ‘Yes.’ So she’ll do one word. Now and then, she will do a sentence. But it is like repeating a sentence. But some of the things I see on the news and so on, documentaries [about dementia] and so on, that’s not her. She doesn’t do those things. Well, she hasn’t reached that stage,” he explained.

Miller says he has taken the time to learn how to properly care for someone living with dementia and encourages others in similar situations to do the same. Above all, he says, love has been the key.

“I find love, love is the most important. She gets a lot of love. She gets a lot, lots of love from the people who are around her. And I find it holds the disease from [worsening]. So we have been [showering her with love] and we find that we are able to hold it. And as I said, one of the only major change for the last two years is that she doesn’t pick up the phone. But, if you put it at her ears, she will communicate with the person, especially if it’s one of us,” he said.

“But she’s alright. And she’s in good hands. Good hands.”

erica.virtue@gleanerjm.com