Tara Quirke has over 40 years nursing experience as a registered nurse. Over the past 27 years Tara has specialised in the care and advocacy for people living with dementia. Tara has held senior management and educational positions, has worked as an Aged Care Quality Auditor for the Commonwealth Government, has been in clinical advisory positions with leading providers and worked as a sought after Dementia Consultant throughout Australia, having worked as a Senior Environmental Design Consultant for Dementia Training Australia. She was a founding Advisory Panel member for the Australian Journal of Dementia Care. Tara is an active participant on many leading research projects co-funded through the NHMRC. Tara has two Master’s Degrees (Clinical Nursing – Gerontology, and Mental Health) and she holds additional qualifications in education, management, midwifery and community nursing. Tara was the primary carer for her dad who was diagnosed with dementia at 68 years old. He lived with her and her husband for 14 years until he died in 2011.
More recently, Tara lost her beloved husband of 44 years to a Prion disease – CJD (Creuzefeldt-Jakob disease) one of the most rapid and rare forms of dementia. During his short stay in hospital, he experienced 3 episodes of delirium. This has inspired her more than ever to search for ways to improve dementia and delirium care and education.
