Becoming a Dementia Friend

Tuesday 11 March 2014

Various staff members here at Blacks Solicitors LLP are privileged to have taken part in the Dementia Friends Scheme and have now become Dementia Friends ourselves.

The scheme is an Alzheimer’s Society initiative which is funded by the Cabinet Office and Department of Health.  The aim of the scheme is to educate people about dementia with a view to creating dementia friendly communities.

The scheme is run by ‘Dementia Champions’ an army of volunteers who have taken time to train in this role to deliver training sessions to Dementia Friends and promote the initiative.  The scheme is hoping to train one million Dementia Friends by next year with over 60,000 Friends trained already.

The course leader, Stephanie, was keen to stress that those who have received a diagnosis of dementia are not ‘sufferers’ but are ‘people living with dementia.’   A focus of the scheme is to change peoples’ way of thinking about dementia so that it is recognised as a disease which can be lived with and that life can be fulfilling.

As private client solicitors we are used to speaking to clients who have dementia but the Dementia Friends session really did open our eyes to how a person with dementia deals with the disease on a day to basis and what people can do to assist.

Some facts about dementia which we did not know:

• Dementia is a disease of the brain that affects each person differently
• The youngest person diagnosed is in their 30s
• Dementia can affect a person’s perception of the world around them, such as mistaking a dark coloured carpet for a hole in the ground.
• It is estimated that only 43% of people with dementia have actually received a diagnosis.
• There are over 108 different types of dementia.
• By 2051, it is anticipated there will be 1,700,000 people living with dementia.

Three easy steps to help people with dementia:

• Remember that people living with dementia are still people who can lead full lives
• Be patient
• Try and make people living with dementia feel secure

Whilst it was stressed that dementia is not an inevitable part of getting older, it is something that we, as an aging population do need to think about.

We have an experienced team of solicitors who can help clients plan for the future including putting Powers of Attorney in place. Powers of Attorney allow family members and or friends to make decisions on behalf of a person with dementia but they need to be put in place whilst an individual has capacity to do so.

For further information about Dementia Friends and the Alzheimer’s Society: www.dementiafriends.org.uk  and  www.alzheimers.org.uk