Bristol becoming dementia friendly city with dementia awareness sessions for businesses

Bristol is on its way to becoming a dementia friendly city with its initiative to enlist a hundred Bristol businesses to hold dementia awareness sessions for their employees.

The dementia awareness group Bristol Dementia Action Alliance (BDAA), was set up in 2013, after a public meeting raised the issue 'Is Bristol a Dementia Friendly City?'

From the meeting, Tony Hall, full time carer and husband to wife Barbara who lives with dementia, said the conclusion was that although there was a lot of support and help in Bristol, more could be done.

So with a focus on encouraging businesses to get more involved, BDAA has launched The BIG 100 campaign in partnership with another Bristol based charity, BRACE, in a bid to help businesses give employees more information about what they can do to assist those living with the condition.

Tony Hall, chair of BDAA, said: “Bristol Airport was one organisation to sign up and has made a significant step forward in becoming a Dementia Friendly Airport, with a dozen employees attending a Dementia Friends session.”

“Our session discussed what dementia is, how to identify it in people and customers and, more importantly, how to manage and support people with the disease travelling through the airport – these can be stressful and confusing situations for those living with the condition and for their carers. We also considered the environment: buildings, offices, retail spaces and how they may be made more dementia friendly at very little cost.”

He added: “We can all do something, no matter how big or small, everyone can do something, in some way, to help improve the lives of those living with the condition, and support the many carers who selflessly get on with the job of caring every day, of every year.”

For more information go to www.bristolbdaa.org/