How Dementia aware are you ?
I have to admit until maybe 10 years ago I had little knowledge of the condition.
Ignorance isn’t bliss when at the least knowlege and education brings awareness and understanding.
I recently joined a facebook page established by a gentleman who has dementia and aim of the ” Torbay Dementia Action Alliance” is to proactively educate businesses, public sector workers and the general public. In effect make us all Dementia aware.
They are doing an amazing job and Norman or Norms as he is known, was even invited to have lunch with the Prime Minister.
Below Norman outlines his vision and plans and I wish him all the best and congratulate him on his dedication and passion.
“I would like to see, within three to four years, at least 60% of shops, banks, Hotels, B+B`s Supermarkets, Theatre, Cinema’s, Leisure industry ECT displaying a “Dementia Friendly Badge ” on their doors and Entrances very similar to the ‘Investors In People’ we see on most businesses doors.
The wonderful thing about this idea is the simplicity of it.
We don’t have to make it hard; we don’t have to get tied up in Bureaucracy, because we already have the training information in place.
We have leaflets on every type of Dementia there is, freely available from Big Dementia Charities.
All I am asking is if every business in Torbay (and further afield) will agree to sign up to this and let us do the hard work for them.”
Dementia
Do you know what dementia is and how it can affect people in your community? Do you know that 1 in 20 people over the age of 65 will have dementia and this increases with age. In Torbay there are an estimated 2700 people with dementia. Do you know that it also affects people in their thirties? What are you doing at the moment to help improve your service for those with any type of dementia? Would you like to know how you might make improvements?
The Aims of the Alliance are as follows, we want THREE simple questions answered.
- Are you willing to improve your service by raising awareness amongst your staff?
- Would you be prepared to sign up to a NON contractual Declaration that you would be willing to do this over the next two /three years and also keep the Alliance involved in your progress by way of a series of maybe quarterly meetings (TBA) and also by email?
This is a useful campaign and one that would benefit from being rolled out nationwide which is the idea behind Dementia Friends pioneered by the government last year. There is always space for more willing volunteers to help and make the UK dementia aware.
