Care home encourages staff to become Dementia Friends

A Lancashire care home that is part of the award-winning Springhill Care Group recently hosted a session to increase awareness of what it is like to live with dementia.

As a result, seven members of staff signed up to be Dementia Friends, a national initiative run by the Alzheimer’s Society to change people’s perceptions and help to create a better understanding of the condition within communities.

The session was delivered by Joe Sherville, a local Dementia Friends Champion, at the Birch Green Care Home, Skelmersdale.

Carol Nickeas, general manager at Birch Green, said: “Many of our residents are affected by dementia, so increasing awareness is a cause which we are always keen to get behind. It’s so important to create more dementia friendly communities so that people feel fully supported.”

Dementia Friends is a national initiative run by the Alzheimer’s Society, which works to change people’s perceptions and help to create a better understanding of the condition within communities.

Dementia Friends help increase awareness of the condition by sharing knowledge and showing others how they can help those affected. There are more than one million Dementia Friends across England and Wales.

Around 850,000 people in the UK live with dementia, which is caused when the brain is damaged by diseases such as Alzheimer’s or a series of strokes. Symptoms include memory loss and difficulties with thinking, speech and problem solving.

For more information about joining Dementia Friends, visit www.dementiafriends.org.uk