Wrekin residents break down the stigma behind Dementia
The Wrekin Housing Group has worked in partnership with Shropshire Partners in Care (SPIC), to deliver a dementia awareness training session for residents.
The session took place at Withywood, an Extra Care scheme for over 55s in Shrewsbury.
It was organised to help increase awareness of Dementia and to encourage open conversation.
The training featured residents diagnosed with dementia, who shared their experience of living with the disease.
Dementia is a general term for loss of memory, problems with speaking, judgment and understanding and other thinking abilities that are severe enough to interfere with daily life.
Elinor Phillips, Dementia Project Officer from Shropshire Partners in Care (SPIC) said: “If you’re concerned that you or someone you know is experiencing symptoms of Dementia it’s really important to speak up. It could be that these symptoms are actually a sign of another condition such as Depression or Delirium that are treatable. Keeping a diary to record any patterns or behaviour that’s causing concern can help too.”
There are currently over 850k people in the UK living with dementia. By 2025 this is expected to rise to one million and then 2 million in 2050 - more than cancer sufferers.
Paula Reynolds, Head of Retirement Housing at the Wrekin Housing Group said: “Our residents asked really important questions about different scenarios. They asked how they should respond to changes in behaviour, repeating of information and what to do when residents ask about family, forgetting that they have passed away. It was really informative. That they wanted to know behaviour coping mechanisms showed they have experience with dementia at Withywood and are keen to support others where they can.”
Paula added: “Elinor sang a song halfway through after speaking about her experience with a lady with dementia. It was really beautiful to watch as the residents joined in too.”
There are steps we can all take to help keep Dementia at bay. Keeping an active or busy lifestyle, a healthy diet, taking multivitamins or even playing puzzles such as Sudoku can all help to reduce the risks.
Paula said: “Following the positive feedback we received, we are planning more talks like this across our ShireLiving schemes. It’s hoped this will help to break down the barriers around Dementia, enabling residents and staff to develop their knowledge and awareness so people diagnosed with Dementia can lead positive, active and fulfilled lives in our ShireLiving schemes.”
22nd December 2022