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Dementia Champions
21/05/2018
This is week is Dementia Action Week, an initiative led by the Alzheimer’s Society to encourage people to take action to make the UK more dementia friendly.
One of the ways of helping the nation better understand dementia is by becoming a Dementia Friends Champion, like WPD Contact Centre Adviser Ashley-anne Flowerdew.
Photo caption: Ashley-Anne (right) with Dementia Friend and colleague Kerry Dwyer.
Ashley-anne became a Dementia Friend in 2016 and has been a Champion since December of that year.
Ashley-anne said: “As a Dementia Champion I have been trained to deliver Dementia Friends Information Sessions. People attending these sessions are asked to understand five key messages and commit to take a dementia-friendly action, and then they become Dementia Friends.
Ashley-anne became involved when she attended an Information Session at WPD’s Contact Centre in Cardiff and spoke of her experience. “So much of the session provides small pieces of information and ideas to think on that genuinely change your understanding of how dementia can affect people.
Ashley-anne found the session very positive. “What stayed with me most was the attitude and direction of the whole session. It wasn’t geared towards helping the attendees to understand how hard life was for people living with Dementia and didn’t aim to instil sympathy. Instead it was more about knowing that people living with Dementia can live well and that there are ways we can help them achieve this,” she said.
After that initial session, a number of people who attended signed up to take part in the Memory Walk 2016 to raise money for the Alzheimer’s Society, and raise awareness of Dementia.
Having had a personal connection with Dementia, Ashley-anne was moved to do something additional to contribute to the cause, consequently training to become a Dementia Champion alongside some of her colleagues.
Here, she gained an even better appreciation of Dementia and found that the analogy used to explain the memory loss experienced by many Dementia sufferers stuck with her:
“When I was training to become a Dementia Champion, the Support Officer explained storing memories like storing books in a bookcase, filling from the bottom up. For people with Dementia, the bookcase starts to rock, and the first books that start to fall come from the top shelves, where the most recent memories live.
“Also, several simple things stood out. For example, Dementia doesn’t affect memory exclusively, but many functions - motor function, sequencing, and perception to name a few. Simple examples of how a black doormat can look like a hole in the floor, or a shiny surface can look wet really helped to explain the behaviour that you might notice in a person living with Dementia, behaviour that can otherwise seem senseless and can be very frustrating to onlookers.”
Ashley-anne noted how her learning has changed the way she handles calls. “I have found that I’m more alert to the potential indicators of a person with Dementia, particularly as I am now aware that these indicators don’t revolve around memory issues alone.
Ashley-anne has now delivered a number of Information Sessions for colleagues, contributing to the 132 Dementia Friends in WPD’s Contact and Dispatch Centres alone. “Each person within the company who becomes a Dementia Friend carries their Dementia awareness with them out into their own communities and in their everyday lives, making a difference to people living with Dementia everywhere,” she said.
The Dementia Champions training means Ashley-anne also provides training externally for the Alzheimer’s Society. “I recently held a session with the 2nd Caerphilly Brownies, which was my first Information Session adapted for young people, and I hope to hold more of these in the future through my involvement with The Scouts.”
Ashley-anne concluded with advice for anyone interested in joining the Dementia-friendly community. “Becoming a Dementia Champion is very easy and the support from the Alzheimer’s Society is phenomenal.”
Find out more about Dementia Action Week and how to become a Dementia Friend or Dementia Champion at: www.alzheimers.org.uk
One of the ways of helping the nation better understand dementia is by becoming a Dementia Friends Champion, like WPD Contact Centre Adviser Ashley-anne Flowerdew.
Photo caption: Ashley-Anne (right) with Dementia Friend and colleague Kerry Dwyer.
Ashley-anne became a Dementia Friend in 2016 and has been a Champion since December of that year.
Ashley-anne said: “As a Dementia Champion I have been trained to deliver Dementia Friends Information Sessions. People attending these sessions are asked to understand five key messages and commit to take a dementia-friendly action, and then they become Dementia Friends.
Ashley-anne became involved when she attended an Information Session at WPD’s Contact Centre in Cardiff and spoke of her experience. “So much of the session provides small pieces of information and ideas to think on that genuinely change your understanding of how dementia can affect people.
Ashley-anne found the session very positive. “What stayed with me most was the attitude and direction of the whole session. It wasn’t geared towards helping the attendees to understand how hard life was for people living with Dementia and didn’t aim to instil sympathy. Instead it was more about knowing that people living with Dementia can live well and that there are ways we can help them achieve this,” she said.
After that initial session, a number of people who attended signed up to take part in the Memory Walk 2016 to raise money for the Alzheimer’s Society, and raise awareness of Dementia.
Having had a personal connection with Dementia, Ashley-anne was moved to do something additional to contribute to the cause, consequently training to become a Dementia Champion alongside some of her colleagues.
Here, she gained an even better appreciation of Dementia and found that the analogy used to explain the memory loss experienced by many Dementia sufferers stuck with her:
“When I was training to become a Dementia Champion, the Support Officer explained storing memories like storing books in a bookcase, filling from the bottom up. For people with Dementia, the bookcase starts to rock, and the first books that start to fall come from the top shelves, where the most recent memories live.
“Also, several simple things stood out. For example, Dementia doesn’t affect memory exclusively, but many functions - motor function, sequencing, and perception to name a few. Simple examples of how a black doormat can look like a hole in the floor, or a shiny surface can look wet really helped to explain the behaviour that you might notice in a person living with Dementia, behaviour that can otherwise seem senseless and can be very frustrating to onlookers.”
Ashley-anne noted how her learning has changed the way she handles calls. “I have found that I’m more alert to the potential indicators of a person with Dementia, particularly as I am now aware that these indicators don’t revolve around memory issues alone.
Ashley-anne has now delivered a number of Information Sessions for colleagues, contributing to the 132 Dementia Friends in WPD’s Contact and Dispatch Centres alone. “Each person within the company who becomes a Dementia Friend carries their Dementia awareness with them out into their own communities and in their everyday lives, making a difference to people living with Dementia everywhere,” she said.
The Dementia Champions training means Ashley-anne also provides training externally for the Alzheimer’s Society. “I recently held a session with the 2nd Caerphilly Brownies, which was my first Information Session adapted for young people, and I hope to hold more of these in the future through my involvement with The Scouts.”
Ashley-anne concluded with advice for anyone interested in joining the Dementia-friendly community. “Becoming a Dementia Champion is very easy and the support from the Alzheimer’s Society is phenomenal.”
Find out more about Dementia Action Week and how to become a Dementia Friend or Dementia Champion at: www.alzheimers.org.uk
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