The Voice of Spalding and South Holland
A roadshow which aims to raise awareness and understanding of dementia will be hoping to sign up new “friends” when it comes to town.
The Alzheimer’s Society’s Dementia Community Road-show is coming to Spalding this month to provide people with the opportunity to put questions to local dementia support workers.
It will also be a chance for people to find out about becoming a Dementia Friend.
Hour-long information sessions will highlight the national campaign to transform the way the nation thinks, talks and acts about the condition, which affects around 11,000 people in Lincolnshire.
The charity wants there to be four million Dementia Friends with the know-how to help people with dementia feel understood and included in their community.
The pioneering roadshow will be at Spalding Health and Wellbeing on Tuesday from 10am-4pm providing an opportunity to put questions to local Dementia Support Workers about the condition which affects about 11,000 people in Lincolnshire.
The Dementia Friends sessions will be held at Tonic Health, Broadgate House, Westlode Street, Spalding, at 10am, 2pm and 5pm.
Diane Smith, regional operations manager for Alzheimer’s Society in the East Midlands, said: “Dementia is one of the biggest health and social care challenges of our generation. Yet it continues to be a condition blighted with stigma and lack of understanding.
“This can mean that people who are worried about dementia in some way, or simply want to find out more may not know where to turn.”
“The Dementia Comm-unity Roadshow is the perfect way to get that information and support out to the people who need it.
“We’re here to provide people with information about where to get help and encourage those with concerns about their memory to visit their GP.”
The roadshow offers free information and advice to anyone with queries about the condition, as well as helping to promote the benefits of an early diagnosis.
It is also open to people currently living with dementia, who are worried about a friend or relative’s memory or who just have questions about the condition. No appointment is needed.
The Dementia Friends sessions are available to drop in on the day, but people can also confirm a place by visiting www.dementiafriends.org.uk
Exercise cafe open
Spalding Health and Wellbeing is a community interest company which works alongside Tonic Health, providing activities including an exercise dementia café. The café meets at 1.30pm-3.30pm on Wednesday and involves gentle exercise, refreshments, a guest speaker and a beauty therapist to offer some pamper time to people with dementia and carers. The health centre also offers creative art classes for people with dementia on Thursdays from 11am to 1pm.
