A meeting next Tuesday (6 May 2014) will consider how agencies and residents can work together to make Beeston and Holbeck a more dementia friendly community.
A raised awareness of the difficulties people with dementia face can make a real difference to people’s lives. Typically people are confused and forgetful, a bad experience with a shopkeeper or bus driver who thinks they’re being awkward can put them off venturing from home and leading to social isolation.
The meeting will look at a range of initiatives including:
- Raising community awareness
- Putting dementia awareness sessions into community learning courses
- Give out information on health tables
- Training for sheltered housing staff to recognise the symptoms
- Raise awareness with One Stop Centre staff
- Link sheltered housing and care homes to neighbourhood networks and their services
- Raise awareness with local businesses
The meeting will be joined by Maggie Graham, Dementia Friendly Leeds Campaign Manager from Leeds Older People’s Forum, who will share her knowledge of resources available to support this work and help devise some effective actions for the area.
The meeting takes place at Dewsbury Road One Stop Centre on Tuesday 6 May at 10am. For more information contact Ellie Rogers on (0113) 395 1658 or 07570 047194; email: ellie.rogers@leeds.gov.uk.
More information about dementia is available at Dementia Friends and from the Leeds branch of the Alzheimer’s Society.
Image by Gerd Altman, used under license.
