Momentum growing for dementia-friendly Arran
A bid to make Arran Scotland’s first dementia friendly island has taken the first steps towards becoming a reality, with a second big push being held next week.
The idea was first reported by the Banner in May after being raised by Councillor Jimmy Miller, the older people’s champion for North Ayrshire Council.
In order to take the matter forward a meeting was held at the Ormidale Pavilion in Brodick last month, when Donna Paterson, the local Alzheimer Scotland coordinator, was invited to provide more information and met with 18 interested people from a variety of backgrounds. The strong feeling of the meeting was that the time was right to try to establish Dementia Friendly Arran.
The group will meet again on Tuesday August 21 at 11.30am at the Ormidale Pavilion with the aim of creating a steering group who will take the work forward.
The group would be keen to have the involvement of anyone interested and in particular representation from those caring for someone living with dementia.
Collin Adams, the social services team manager for Arran said: ‘Given the demographic of Arran and the number of people on the island that are affected, considering ways in which people living with dementia could be supported is something that our Health and Social Care Partnership along various volunteer groups have been working on for some time.
‘However, encouraging, informing and involving the whole community to be more mindful and participative in making the lives of our residents and visitors who are living with dementia that bit easier would obviously make a greater impact and has got to be a goal worth pursuing.’
The concept of a dementia-friendly community isn’t new – as far back as 2001, Alzheimer Scotland’s Dementia Awareness Week focused on how to reduce stigma, raise awareness and create more dementia-friendly communities. But it’s probably fair to say that the dementia-friendly movement was given a huge boost in March 2012 by the Prime Minister’s Challenge on Dementia south of the border.
The attention this achieved gave an added impetus to some of the work which had been going on quietly for many years, with more and more communities coming forward to say they, too, wanted to get involved.
Alzheimer Scotland has been working to encourage the creation of dementia-friendly communities across the country to achieve just that.
On their website they describe how this works: ‘A dementia friendly community is made up of the whole community – shop assistants, public service workers, faith groups, businesses, police, fire and ambulance staff, bus drivers, school pupils, clubs and societies, and community leaders – people who are committed to working together and helping people with dementia to remain a part of their community and not become apart from it.
‘This involves learning a little about dementia and doing very simple and practical things that can make an enormous difference to people living with the condition.’
If you would like more information please call Collin Adams at the Lamlash council offices 01770 600742 or come along on day.