September is World Alzheimer’s Month, a campaign pioneered by the Alzheimer’s Society in order to raise awareness around Alzheimer’s and dementia. This is a cause we have passionately supported at Beritaz Care for a number of years.

There are millions of dementia stories taking place across the world, and yet there is still so little knowledge and understanding of these conditions in wider society. This is something the Alzheimer’s Society is working to rectify, making sure these dementia stories are shared and supporting people affected by the condition.

Within the Beritaz Care homes, we are also committed to education on the topic of dementia and have held dedicated training sessions on the subject for our teams. This includes interactive training sessions on the ‘dementia bus’ which have been taking place this month. These sessions allow our staff to walk in the shoes of someone with dementia and get an insight into the struggles our residents face on a daily basis. Our main goal is always to ensure we can support our residents to feel comfortable and safe in our homes. We keep informed of best practices and new strategies that we can apply in our homes to offer the best possible care to residents with dementia.

We take steps to make sure everything about a resident’s day-to-day routine is as easy as possible, from adapting our communication methods, to thinking about how meals are served to them. It’s these small changes our staff can make that will hopefully make a big difference to our residents. We also do our best to share our knowledge, advising friends and family members on how best to support their loved ones with dementia, often running educational sessions and talks during relatives meetings.

The Alzheimer’s Society is an organisation very close to our hearts, and often the recipient of our fundraising efforts at social events.  The Alzheimer’s Society do a lot of great work and have many useful resources on their website to provide you with more information on living with dementia, as well as a support line and online chat service for you to ask any questions you may have. https://www.alzheimers.org.uk/get-involved/world-alzheimers-month

Each day we see first-hand the challenges faced by those affected by dementia and we are passionate about finding the best ways to support our residents who are impacted by dementia or Alzheimer’s.