DEMENTIA EVENTS CREATE BETTER LIVES
As Scottish footballing legend Gordon McQueen is diagnosed with dementia, SP looks at the work that’s being done in Scotland to help victims of the degenerative brain disease.
A
series of online engagement sessions to give those in the Borders who have direct experience of dementia a meaningful
voice in how they want to receive support locally was launched this month.
The sessions are being hosted by The Life Changes Trust, a charity which supports people living with dementia and unpaid carers of people with dementia.
These engagement sessions, designed by the Village Storytelling Centre, are a way for individuals to express their own thoughts and priorities, and have their voices heard.
‘We are delighted to be promoting and participating in these events which will provide a creative and safe space for those living with dementia and those caring for someone with dementia to share their experiences and priorities,’ said Christine Proudfoot, Alzheimer Scotland Dementia Nurse Consultant at NHS
Borders. ‘It is especially important during the pandemic to hear experiences which can inform current and future service delivery.’ ‘The Trust recognises that very often it is local, grassroots organisations which, by their very nature of being local, have the most immediate impact on people living with dementia, their families and unpaid carers,’ added Arlene Crockett, Director of Evidence and Influencing for the Dementia Programme at the Life Changes Trust.
‘The purpose of our ‘storytelling’ sessions is to ask people from across the Borders what their priorities are, and look at what could be done to better address those priorities. We learn about what is important to them, where there are gaps in providing a caring and supportive community and how services could be better designed and delivered. By putting the voice of people living with dementia and unpaid carers up front and centre, we are hearing from, and learning from, the experts.’
Life Changes Trust has also provided funding to the Scottish Dementia Alumni to launch a new resource for people with dementia. The Alumni has been awarded a grant of £3600 to compile ‘Expect the Unexpected’: a resource to help patients prepare for unexpected events.
The booklet will be researched and written by the Alumni: a group of people, who have been living with various diagnoses of dementia for almost 60 collective years, and will cover all types of unexpected events – from falls to carers becoming unwell.
People across Scotland living with dementia will be contributing to the research with their lived experience via questionnaires, video calls, telephone calls and by email or post. The Alumni will also produce a video about the researching of the booklet, which will be available from the autumn.
For more information, visit
dementiavoices.org.uk.
scottishpharmacist.com 45
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48
