DH Friendly Communities
Dementia friendly communities: the challenge
In the Dementia Challenge progress report published
on 8 November, the dementia friendly communities group described the challenge
it is trying to address:
The challenges people with dementia have to deal
with go far beyond a diagnosis and getting support from the health and care
system.
People living with dementia often find everyday
things we all take for granted, like spending time with friends and families, enjoying
hobbies, going shopping or getting money from the bank, much more difficult.
A recent report from the Alzheimer’s Society found
as many as 67% of people with dementia often do not feel part of their
community.
People living with dementia said they commonly
experience loneliness, isolation, anxiety and depression and three quarters of
people said they feel society is not geared up to deal with people with
dementia.
Trevor Jarvis, who has dementia, told us about the
difficulties he has experienced accessing his savings from a bank. He explained
he finds it hard to remember his bank passwords and PIN numbers. A lack of
understanding of dementia within the financial sector often makes it difficult
for people with dementia to use banking services and manage their money.
Even using public transport, something most of us
take for granted, can prevent people who have dementia from being active in
their community, leading to feelings of isolation. Difficulties in issues
around communicating with the bus driver, getting off at the right bus stop and
processing information can make it very hard to use buses.
What we want to be
different
We want to create dementia friendly communities
across the country. In these communities: people will be aware of and
understand more about dementia; people with dementia and their carers will be
encouraged to seek help and support; and people with dementia will feel
included in their community, be more independent and have more choice and
control over their lives.
By 2015, our vision is to more than double our
initial ambition of at least 20 cities, towns and villages working towards
becoming dementia friendly.
This means creating local Dementia Action Alliances
to bring together community leaders alongside people with dementia and their
carers to identify the changes and action needed to make their community
dementia friendly.
It is about businesses, organisations and services
understanding and responding to the needs of people with dementia.
Simple things, like changing the layout of a shop,
improving or using different signage and training staff so they are more aware
of dementia can make a difference. Even products can be designed and adapted to
become dementia friendly.
Our ambition is to support wider society to make
the change to enable people who have dementia to be able to confidently go
about their daily lives safely and free from stigma.
The more who join us the faster we will succeed in raising awareness and removing the stigma
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I always say that we may have this illness, but we are all so different.
This is my own daily problems, but I would gladly share anyone elses, if they send them in,