Last week was Dementia Awareness Week, a time to raise awareness for those with dementia.
It affects many people in the UK and we want to help as many people as we can. Therefore, we are focused on making our colleagues Dementia Friends. But what is a Dementia Friend? They are someone who partakes in training and learning sessions to know more about dementia and how it can affect someone, to be able to help others in their community.
So, we invited some of our newer colleagues who were not yet Dementia Friends to attend a session, held by 2 of our Community Living Advisors Diana and Sharon, to learn about dementia. The purpose of these sessions was to give all staff the opportunity to understand customers living with dementia and look at how we can support them.
The Alzheimer’s Society have 5 key messages for this:
- Dementia is not a natural part of ageing
- Dementia is caused by diseases of the brain
- Dementia is not just about losing your memory – it can affect thinking, communicating and doing everyday tasks
- It is possible to live well with dementia
- There’s more to a person than the dementia
In our community living schemes, 1 in 10 customers are living with dementia, and we always help them in any way we can.
We also got some great feedback from attendees about the sessions:
‘It was a great session and lovely to meet other new people. Thank you for being great hosts and trainers.’
‘I would definitely recommend the session. Sharon and Diana are really friendly and knowledgeable on this topic, and I found the training really interesting and thought provoking when attending.’
You can find out more about Dementia Friends on our Wellbeing and Housing Support page.
#DementiaAwareness
