NEIGHBOURHOODS have championed raising awareness as they work towards becoming official dementia-friendly communities.

Groups across south Cumbria have been working hard for the last few months to set up projects that make it easier for people with dementia to stay comfortable and at ease in their own communities.

Training has been offered to businesses to demonstrate how a few small actions can help customers with memory and personality problems.

Ulverston Dementia Action Alliance is one of these innovative groups. The scheme is made up of groups which have pledged support towards improving the lives of people with Alzheimer's disease and other related conditions and their carers, including St Mary's Hospice and South Lakeland District Council.

Councillor Janette Jenkinson, chairman of Low Furness and Ulverston Local Area Partnership, said the community was coming together and learning how to adapt to meet people's needs better.

She said: "We encourage businesses, the community, young people, anybody, to be aware and be involved in a way with people with dementia.

"The aim is to keep dementia patients in the community as long as possible so the aim is to make hairdressers, banks, anybody who deals with people, aware of the signs of dementia.

"People with dementia can live very fulfilling lives but sometimes it's a little nervy for them if they go into town and perhaps they are forgetful.

"There are little things that we perhaps wouldn't think of that we can do to alleviate that concern; say somebody struggling with their money - there's a sign there so the shop assistant can recognise that and realise that and be sympathetic and step in so that it doesn't get out of hand.

"It's step by step and it's learning and helping people to understand."

Many traders in Ulverston have sent staff on training workshops focusing on supporting customers with dementia.

One of the businesses to benefit has been the Barber's Shop, Upper Brook Street, Ulverston.

Owner Sandra Buck found one of the courses put on by the Dementia Action Alliance and LAP to be fascinating, giving an insight into the symptoms of dementia and to consider changing the way staff talk and behave when interacting with people they suspect may have dementia.

She said: "As businesses it is important that we think about the needs of our customers and we know that there will be more people with dementia in the future because of the ageing population."

The project in Ulverston is particularly poignant because census figures show that the numbers of people aged over 65 in the Low Furness and Ulverston area increased by almost one-fifth between 2001 and 2011, even though the overall population of the area only grew by one per cent.

The ultimate aim of the Ulverston scheme is to become a recognised 'dementia-friendly area' by the Alzheimer's Society, following nearby towns such as Lancaster and Kendal which have both been accepted to the club.

On Walney a consortium of organisations, including Cumbria Partnership NHS Foundation Trust, the Alzheimer's Society and Age UK, are working on similar incentives to spread awareness of dementia issues.

The launch of Walney Dementia Action Alliance took place in May and has given advice and information to scores of people and businesses since then.

Alison Hodson, of the Alzheimer's Society, said: "We want to raise awareness through workshops.

"It also helps to reduce the stigma around dementia, we need to change the attitude towards the disease."

A total of 8,000 people were diagnosed with dementia in Cumbria in 2013 and the diagnosis rate for dementia in Cumbria in 2013 was 54 per cent.

That means the Alzheimer’s Society estimates the true figure of people living with dementia at nearly 14,814 people in Cumbria in 2013.

Visit www.nwemail.co.uk for more stories in this week's Focus On Dementia series and more about the Dementia Action Alliance.

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Sandra Buck.

Neighbourhood projects

About Dementia Action Alliance