A NEWLY created leadership group called Redditch Friends Together is reaching out to local organisations and individuals in a bid to create a leading dementia friendly community in Redditch.
The group consists of individuals living with dementia who meet regularly to support one another and find ways to improve services and attitudes in order to be more inclusive of people with dementia.
The group has created a local Dementia Action Alliance in Redditch and is urging organisations and business to sign up to this declaration in order to create a community that is inclusive to people with dementia. Once signed, members of the alliance will be recognised by ‘forget me not flower’ window stickers and badges to signify that they are dementia friendly.
The Dementia 2013 report by Alzheimer's Society showed that 85 per cent of people living with dementia say they struggle with isolation, loneliness and depression and 35 per cent said they had lost friends after diagnosis.
People living with dementia can experience problems with their memory, visual perception and communication, as well as difficulties completing everyday tasks such as shopping and handling money. Therefore communities that are more inclusive are crucial in order for people living with dementia to remain independent with choice and control over their lives, whatever their stage of dementia.
Gillian Read, Alzheimer’s Society support services manager in Worcestershire, said: “It’s incredibly important that this group of dynamic individuals, who all have dementia, are prepared to share their stories and life experiences, in order to make Redditch a better place to live. We want everyone in Redditch to get involved and if we can make it a better place for people with dementia, it will be a better place for the whole community.”
The government, as a result of the National Dementia Declaration for England, has launched the Dementia Action Alliance to change the experience of living with dementia in England.
To find out more about Redditch Friends Together or the Dementia Action Alliance in Redditch, contact group facilitator Janet Little on 07833 146207 or 01905 22195 or email janet.little@alzheimers.org.uk.
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