Hello everyone and welcome to spring!
We’ve had so much happening over the last month at the Dementia Café HQ that it feels as though 3 months have passed.
Over the last month we have…
-Met with Sunrise Living experts and learnt much about hearing and dementia.
-The HQ team took part in Spartan Race
-Local girls Aliesha Wells and Charlotte Lily Vincent raised much needed cash for the Dementia Café walking door to door in the village with our collection box, (currently residing in Love to Eat).
-We raced beyond our target of £700 in this event’s fundraiser – good news
-Did you spot us on Insta? –
-We were on BBC Radio Essex by invitation to talk to about the DC-TLS
-We took part in the Houses of Parliament Twitter debate about dementia by invitation and made friends with an MP
-We launched our new website
-We featured in the Clacton Gazette
-We began filming for our promotional video with our videographer who works with the BBC in London
-We had news of a local dementia patient who wandered off and the Essex police helicopter was sent out to search
-We tested the first of our collection of cartoons online, which will compile our book we will be publishing to inform people about dementia
-We welcomed new bloggers, writing for our blog on our website
First of all we would like to thank those who took part in Spartan Race. Genalda Silva, Michel Zimmermann, Chris Hepworth, Aline Freestone along with myself ran 7k (4.3 miles) and crossed 20 obstacles at the Olympic Park in London for the Dementia Cafe. Each of us ran with the names of a loved one printed on our shirts.
Many thanks to London print co. Air Fresh who printed our t-shirts for the run and to the companies who sponsored us: Kindeo, Love to Eat, Never Leather & Mummy Constant (Blogger).
Thanks also to individuals who sponsored us online. Thank you to Peter Rainford for continued backing. (Pete has volunteered to help in the café once built.)
A huge thanks to Aliesha Wells and Charlotte Lily Vincent for collecting money, door to door in TLS. They raised £177, their continued support is commendable, since they also flyered the area last year And volunteered at the Christmas festival in Thorpe last December.
And huge thanks to YOU! >The readers of TLS Village Magazine who donated to the Dementia Café when Aliesha and Lily came to your door.
We welcome new recruits at the Dementia Café, our bloggers at HQ such as Sonia Constant who has a blog: “Mummy Constant”, who will also be writing for us at the DC. To follow our blog, navigate to our website and hit ‘blog’. www.dementiacafe.co.uk
Sadly we don’t have space to chat over every topic, however, two stories that did crop up this month are: *the disappearance of a local woman and a police helicopter search over TLS and *new information from Sunrise Living experts that we had the great fortune to discuss.
What should you do if you find someone wandering, perhaps lost & you suspect that they have dementia?
If you do happen across someone, try not to panic. You can always ask the person their name. Usually they will tell you their name. Try not to patronise them or tell them off. The person is probably doing something that they like doing, going for a walk as you or I would, or they may be walking with a purpose with the thought of going somewhere. You can always ask the person where they live. If you do suspect the person has dementia and has wandered from their home, it is likely their family doesn’t know where they are & they may be looking for them. It is protocol to phone the police so that the authorities can return the person to their home. One should never try to lead the person off or force them to move from the area unless they are of course in immediate danger. This can be frightening to the individual as it would be to you, if someone tried to lead you off and you didn’t know where you were going! Alerting police will let the authorities know the location of that person & hopefully overcome having to send search units such as helicopters out!
What exactly are the issues with hearing and dementia?
Studies have shown that when a person with dementia is seated around others socially, that they are unable to block out neighbouring conversations and hear clearly the person that is talking to them. Having taken Mum (who has Alzheimer’s) to other cafés and meet-ups, I noticed that she became withdrawn. She walks along the beach twice a week with a carer and has always been outgoing. She will approach dog owners to chat on the beach. At meet-ups however she would say she had a nice time but would not enter conversation. After discussing this with an expert at Sunrise Living, (experts in dementia care) who the DC know well; we learnt that new information has come to light regarding the issue. It is almost impossible for those with dementia to block out other conversations. This can be the case even at home, sat around the table with the family. More than one conversation causes great confusion. If then, added to this, the space is echo-y and the acoustics increase the volume of sound, it can become almost impossible for individuals to follow the conversation. The result is that they withdraw and don’t feel included. This defeats the whole object of having a meet-up or café for those with dementia, we thought. It is therefore imperative that a café Is purpose built and Is private, so that it can be held in the same place every week, without being cancelled And a space that is suitable. We will be designing the interior to overcome all of these issues.
We are interested in hearing about YOU!
We ask every month whether you can help the Dementia Café. This month we’re also asking how we can help you. Are you proud of your community? If so, please do join us and support the initiative whose roots are in your village. If you think your community could offer you, your children or others more…in what way? We’d love to hear how you think You could help either the DC directly or the community at large & if you think the community is lacking something, how the DC could help you. Are you happy living where you are? How could your life be improved? Ask us or tell us Anything! We’re here to listen. Write to us or email us, Contact details below…
Thanks for reading, Emily-Jane Stapley (-DC Founder).
We would love to hear from you: Email: dementiacafe@gmail.com
Address: FTAO: Ms. E-J Stapley, CEO, Office 2:10, Davenport House, 16 Pepper St. London, E14 9RP
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