Greenford Residents Become Dementia Friends

850,000 with the condition - campaign aims to break stigma

Local residents from Greenford are helping tackle the stigma affecting those suffering from Dementia and their carers.

The group attended a free one-hour information session at Cancer Research - Greenford, run by local Dementia Friends Champion, Leemya Abdalla, from Home Instead Senior Care.

Alzheimer’s Society’s Dementia Friends programme aims to transform the way the nation thinks, talks and acts about the condition. The charity wants to train four million people to become Dementia Friends with the know-how to help people with dementia feel understood and included in their community.

There are currently 850,000 people living with the condition in England.

Dementia Friends Champions are volunteers who talk to people about being a Dementia Friend in their communities. Speaking about the session, Leemya said:

“I was so pleased to see people showing their support for people with dementia, by coming along to the Session and becoming Dementia Friends. We need to create more communities and businesses that are dementia friendly so that people affected by dementia feel understood and included.”

Leemya signed up to be a Dementia Friends Champion earlier this year and attended a one day training course on how to deliver the sessions. She continued: “I signed up to be a Dementia Friends Champion because I recognised the need for communities that are inclusive of those living with dementia and the positive difference the Dementia Friends initiative was already making in promoting this. I’m so proud to be part of a growing network of people helping to create dementia friendly communities across England.”

Louise Bates, Dementia Friends Regional Support Officer at Alzheimer’s Society said, “Whether you attend a face-to-face session or watch the online video, Dementia Friends is about learning more about dementia and the small ways you can help. From telling friends about the Dementia Friends programme to visiting someone you know living with dementia, every action counts.’

Anyone interested in supporting the campaign should go to www.dementiafriends.org.uk or contact: Leemya on 07398426672 or at info.ealing@homeinstead.co.uk

July 18, 2018