Team members at award-winning care provider Hallmark Care Homes are celebrating after they made over 1000 people Dementia Friends in May.
Dementia Champion’s at Hallmark Care Homes’ facilities ran numerous Dementia Friends sessions for team members, relatives and members of the local community throughout May as part of the care provider’s commitment to making 1000 people more knowledgeable about dementia. This was instigated as part of Dementia Action Week, which ran from the 21st – 27th May.
Hallmark Care Homes, which provides residential, nursing and dementia care, launched the initiative, which was well received by local dignitaries, schools and businesses to raise awareness of Alzheimer’s disease and help transform the way the nation thinks about dementia.
In addition to the homes running Dementia Friends sessions, which were taught in partnership with the Alzheimer’s Society, many Hallmark homes hosted dementia support cafés throughout the month while others fundraised for the Alzheimer’s Society and Alzheimer’s Research UK. Fundraising events ranged from charity concerts to car washes in the homes.
Customer Relationship Manager and Dementia Friends Champion at Admiral Court Care Home in Leigh on Sea, Nicola Sutcliffe said: “Our drop-in sessions at our Hallmark homes taught our visitors everything they needed to know about dementia and we are incredibly pleased to have contributed to reaching our goal of making 1000 people Dementia Friends this May.
“We decided to run these sessions and set ourselves this ambitious target as we provide excellent standards of dementia care daily to residents in our homes and an important part of this care is raising awareness of the condition.
“One person every three minutes will develop dementia, therefore it’s important that as a care provider we get the word out there and as a community we become more dementia friendly.
“We hope that visitors to our Dementia Friends sessions found our sessions informative and useful.”
