BBC Blogs – About the BBC – Panorama – Living With Dementia: Chris’s Story

Panorama – Living With Dementia: Chris’s Story
— Read on www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/aboutthebbc/entries/c0868d6c-41be-4557-8f74-ff7aa9c5c131

www.linkedin.com/pulse/all-you-have-do-ask-us-josine-engels

www.salzburgglobal.org/fileadmin/user_upload/Documents/2010-2019/2017/Session_587/SalzburgGlobal_Statement_on_Innovations_in_Dementia_Care_and_Dementia_Friendly_Communities.pdf

SALZBURG GLOBAL STATEMENT

(Dementia Just Ain’t) Sexy: Let’s Get Real

(Dementia Just Ain’t) Sexy: Let’s Get Real
— Read on dementiajustaintsexy.blogspot.com/2014/04/lets-get-real.html

From my good friend Ming Ho xxx👏🏽👏🏽👏🏽

www.youtube.com/watch

Living with Dementia – Chris’s Story – Video Dailymotion

Watch Living with Dementia – Chris’s Story by communityvoicehealth on Dailymotion here
— Read on www.dailymotion.com/video/x4g6xqu

Dementia friendly Communities

EVERYONE HAS HEARD THE WORD DEMENTIA, BUT THE TROUBLE IS, NOT MANY UNDERSTAND IT ! …….”INCLUDING ME AND MY FAMILY BEFORE I WAS DIAGNOSED,
BUT, WITH UNDERSTANDING, FEAR CAN BE REDUCED,
ITS THE UNKNOWN ONE FEARS THE MOST !

THAT’S WHY A DEMENTIA FRIENDLY COMMUNITY SHOULD BE BASED FIRSTLY, ON EDUCATION,
EDUCATION WHICH SHOULD START IN SCHOOLS SO NO MORE
MIS-UNDERSTANDING AND STIGMA ABOUT THE ILLNESS WOULD THEN EXIST, CHILDREN ARE OUR FUTURE AND AN IMPORTANT ASSET, THEY SHOULDN’T BE LEFT OUT OF A DEMENTIA FRIENDLY COMMUNITY.

THEN START TO EDUCATE THE SHOPS AND BUSINESSES, THE BANKS AND POST OFFICES, NOT JUST THE OWNERS BUT ALL THE STAFF,
THEN THE PUBLIC TRANSPORT STAFF, TRAINS, TAXIES AND BUSES !

IT IS EASIER TO START WITH THE SMALLER, INDEPENDENT BUSINESSES, THEN THE LARGER ONES, THE CORPORATE MULTI-NATIONALS WILL FOLOW TOO.

MOST PEOPLE WITH DEMENTIA LOSE THE CONFIDENCE TO LEAVE THEIR HOMES ONCE DIAGNOSED……….I KNOW I DID !

THEN GO INTO THE CARE HOMES, THE NURSING HOMES, SURGERIES AND HOSPITALS, EDUCATE ALL !

THEN THE PUBLIC……… BECAUSE WITH EDUCATION COMES UNDERSTANDING,
WITH UNDERSTANDING COMES SUPPORT AND CARING
KNOWLEDGE IS A POWERFUL TOOL !!

THEN THE RESCUE SERVICES, THE POLICE, AND COUNCILS,
WORKING EVER UPWARDS AND OUTWARDS.

THEN COMES CHANGES TO THE ENVIRONMENT,
WORKING WITH THE ARCHITECTS, ESTATE MANAGERS AND THE BUILDERS.
LOOKING AT THINGS LIKE SIGNAGE, LIGHTING AND LIVING ACCESSORIES,
ALSO THINGS LIKE MARKING STEPS, ESCALATORS AND PAVEMENT EDGES ETC,

ALL THE THINGS THAT CAN SUPPORT SOMEONE AND GIVE THEM CONFIDENCE WITHOUT TAKING THEIR DIGNITY AWAY

A BIG THING NEEDED IS INCLUSION, PLEASE ASK US WHAT WE NEED, WHAT WE WANT, IT SHOULD BE NOTHING ABOUT US WITHOUT US !
WE ARE, AFTER ALL, THE EXPERTS IN LIVING WITH DEMENTIA, WE ARE THE EXPERTS BY EXPERIENCE,
US, AND OUR CARERS, AND FAMILY MEMBERS.

YOU HAVE A WEALTH OF INFORMATION BETWEEN US !

PLEASE DONT FORGET THAT DEMENTIA IS A DISABILITY,
A DISABILITY YOU CANT ALWAYS SEE, THERE ISNT A LABEL

SO IF YOU GET IT RIGHT FOR THE PERSON WITH DEMENTIA THEN YOU GET IT RIGHT FOR EVERYONE !
ITS ABOUT PUTTING COMMUNITY SPIRIT BACK, SOMETHING THAT CAN BE SADLY LACKING, IN LOTS OF PLACES THESE DAYS.

ALL THESE THINGS ARE WHAT IS NEEDED TO MAKE GOOD PLACE FOR SOMEONE WITH DEMENTIA,

DEMENTIA FRIENDLY COMMUNITIES SHOULD BE ABLE TO SUPPORT EVERYONE AT ALL AGES AND AT ALL STAGES OF THE ILLNESS,
MAINTAINING THEIR CONFIDENCE AND BOOSTING ONE’S ABILITY TO MANAGE THEIR EVERY DAY LIFE

I am a person not a disease !

And you don’t have to raise your voice when speaking to me !

Busy year ahead !

Very pleased, have just been made A Purple Angel Ambassador by Norman McNamara www.purpleangel.org.uk
very ,very pleased to be working with the other Purple Angels in Wrexham, helping to make Wrexham and Wales more dementia friendly.
I went to Warrington yesterday to Dementia friends Champions training www.dementiafriends.org.uk
and pleased to say I’m now able to teach an 45 min long information session to anybody and everybody that is interested.
I will be organising this in the near future at various venues.
The training day was very interesting, basic information, but enough to teach awareness to people that don’t have much idea.
The training was very good, the guy in charge, a Mr.Keelan Early, was excellent.
A complete information package with backup and online resources is provided.
A gentleman With Lewy Bodies in a wheel chair introduced himself as soon as we soon as we sat down, I think most were quite shocked that he was a normal functioning human being .I said nothing about my self and my health issues.
Spent the rest of the day training and so on. On completion We were thanked for attending and so on….
everyone made their goodbyes ! I then got everyone’s attention, stood up and I said “I’d like to thank……….? (the guy with Lewy Bodies ! can’t remember his name, so sorry ! ) for attending and showing you that not everybody with dementia has pop-socks on and aged 80 years old ( no offence implied to anyone elderly with dementia, before the politically correct start ! ) and That I have Vascular damage and have been diagnosed with Alzheimer’s ,and have worked with you all day ! I hope some of the stigma has been removed and that no one is immune ”
You couldn’t hear a pin drop for a split second ! I hope I showed everyone how functioning we can be and hopefully removed some of the stigma about only the elderly can have this devastating disease !