The signs were trivial at first.

Fresh vegetables stored in the freezer instead of the fridge, and sugar mistakenly swapped for salt in a batch of cupcakes.

"So, little signs — sometimes hard to know if it's aging or if it's early signs of dementia," Canberra woman Rebecca Scouller recalled.

But they were enough to trigger a conversation with her mother, Charlotte, about relocating from Jervis Bay to Canberra, where she would have more support.

It also prompted some challenging discussions around getting her mother, who was aged 77 at the time, tested for dementia.

"I think carers or family or friends may be reluctant, initially, to even have that conversation, and then you need to get the person to accept that maybe it's time," Ms Scouller said.

"I completely appreciate the fear, an

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