Dementia aware hospitals are awarded the Purple Angel logo

A dementia awareness campaigner has helped two hospitals in the Teignmouth community to become dementia aware through a new training initiative.

Norman McNamara was diagnosed with Lewys Bodies disease, a form of dementia, when he was 50 and has since been promoting dementia awareness in the community and awarding dementia aware hospitals the Purple Angel logo.

The Purple Angel logo has become an international symbol for places where staff have been trained in dementia awareness in not only hospitals but organisations throughout the country.

South Hams Community Hospital in Kingsbridge and Teignmouth Community Hospital have become the first hospitals in the UK to be awarded with the Purple Angel logo, that visitors can take as a sign of quality care.

Lisa Houlihan, matron at South Hams Community Hospital and Dementia Lead for the Trust, said: “Being able to display the Purple Angel in two of our hospitals is a great achievement. Our hospitals regularly see patients suffering from a form of memory loss and we feel that it’s important to enable our patients to be able to communicate with us effectively and reassure their families and carers that we are providing them with all the support they need.

“By displaying one of the iconic Purple Angels we are showing our support for dementia awareness.

“Once 95 per cent of all staff have had their awareness training the 'Purple Angel' can be displayed to promote we are a Dementia aware service. I am proud to be able to say we have achieved that target in our South Hams and Teignmouth Hospitals and through all the excellent work of our teams and Dementia Champions I know other units will soon be able to follow suit."

As well as achieving Purple Angel status, the hospital Trust has launched another initiative titled Forget-Me-Not where medical staff are made aware of patients with memory issues in order to ensure that patients are treated in a dementia friendly way.

The Forget-Me-Not alert sticker reminds doctors that patients with dementia might require more time and attention when being treated.

Ms Houlihan continued: "As part of the extensive work we are doing in our Community Hospitals, we have successfully rolled out a Dementia Awareness Training to all members of our hospital teams, including Nursing, Administration, Hotel Services and Therapies staff. This is an on-going programme and all our hospitals are working hard to get all staff trained to raise awareness of those with Dementia and to be able to offer advice, support or signpost to other services.”

Another project founded by Mr McNamara in the five years since being diagnosed with dementia is Dementia Awareness Day (D.A.D), which he hopes will further raise awareness of dementia in an ageing society.

D.A.D is taking place on 21 September 2013 this year, and hopes to raise money for this year’s sponsored charity, Alzheimer’s Research UK.

Mr McNamara said: “I am delighted that South Hams and Teignmouth Hospitals are officially Dementia Aware and that they are now able to display the Purple Angel. They are the first hospitals in the country to be displaying the logo and is a symbol that will reassure many patients as well as their family and friends that their loved ones will receive the highest quality of care.

“The Purple Angel is here as a guardian over those living with dementia (as well as their families and friends), and is helping to raise awareness of dementia around the world. The Purple Angel is the symbol of hope and it has been adopted around the world by people who care about dementia. We are very proud that this now international sign was born right here in the South West.

“When I was myself diagnosed with Dementia five years ago aged just 50 and began raising awareness about this awful disease, never did I imagine anything as big as this. However, it just proves if you diagnose this disease early enough the things you can achieve are just wonderful, and let’s hope for bigger and better things to come. I am now looking forward to spreading the word about the Purple Angel and seeing more sites gain dementia aware status.”

For more information on Purple Angel and D.A.D visit: http://www.purpleangel.org.uk/