UK home care company, Home Instead, has reached out to help elderly Ukrainians who are living with dementia and taking refuge with families in Poland by translating some of their dementia care material and making them available to any aid agency, charity or community-based project that may benefit from them.
More than two million people have already fled Ukraine, with about one million of them crossing into Poland seeking safety, protection and assistance. It is estimated that approximately 10% are elderly and many will be living with a degenerative disease such as Alzheimer’s.
Their plight has prompted a flood of generosity and kindness from around the world with donations of money, food and clothes. Home Instead wants to put its wealth of dementia advice to good use and support the crisis victims and their Polish host families.
As a result, Home Instead has adapted and translated some of their family advice material relating to supporting a loved one living with dementia. The new guide, initially translated into Polish and Ukrainian, contains a wealth of expert material.
Dementia is progressive and is caused when the brain is damaged by illnesses such as Alzheimer’s disease or strokes. Everyone is unique and will experience dementia in their own way. Different types of dementia will affect people in different ways.
Home Instead’s new Family Dementia Care Guide helps those not familiar with the condition, offering expert and advice and tips on how to best communicate with and support a person who is perhaps experiencing heightened confusion and stress as a result of dementia.
For people living with a dementia, being moved to unfamiliar surroundings and going through the trauma of having to leave the comfort and familiar home environment is doubly distressing and confusing.
Sarah Gribbin, Learning and Development Lead at Home Instead, said: “For someone living with dementia, the world can seem a confusing place, so imagine the additional trauma and distress caused by the events happening in Ukraine. Being uprooted from familiar surroundings and routines and a lack of usual access to family and friends can seriously exacerbate the symptoms of dementia.
“The new guide is based on our expert and award-winning dementia training that was developed for our Care Professionals and the wealth of materials we have already developed for families in the UK.
“The material produced for Polish families and Ukrainian refugees succinctly takes the main points to offer what will be much-needed advice. How people respond to the person with dementia and their environment are factors that will significantly impact on quality of life.”
Home Instead UK CEO Martin Jones commented: “One can only start to imagine what the displaced Ukrainian people are going through. We know that those living with dementia will be having a very difficult time and we are keen to offer practical, meaningful support to both refugees with dementia and those wonderful families who have opened up their homes to care for them.”
The company is working with various aid agencies operating on the ground in Poland and other European countries to manage the dissemination of the material. They are keen to share the guide far and wide and are making the translated material available on their website.
