In the fourth of our posts for Dementia Awareness Week 2016, Jane Mackay from Kirklees Advocacy Service talks about the steps her team have made to be supportive of people living with dementia and why it’s so important to her.
Like most other people, my family has had experience of dementia, my Gran first and then my step-Gran, both within a relatively short space of time a few years ago. They had hugely varying experiences of it and both had their own unique challenges. I so so wish I knew then what I know now; as a family we all coped in our own ways but I can now see that we didn’t really get the right level of support by the services involved and neither did Lilian or Mary. That’s one of the main reasons I am so passionate about spreading the word on dementia awareness.
The Touchstone services in Kirklees are designed to be accessible to people with dementia and we support many who are in hospital to make sure that they have a voice and have the opportunity to be involved in their support planning.
In 2015 we became members of the Kirklees Dementia Action Alliance. Here we are receiving our award from the mayor of Kirklees…
Here is a link to our action plan… http://www.dementiaaction.org.uk/members_and_action_plans/3788-touchstone_kirklees.
In joining KDAA we promise that we will help build knowledge and understand of the powerful role that advocacy can have for people with dementia and their carers. We will be an exemplar of good practice within our communities and will enable people with lived experience to have key roles in service design and delivery.
We now have our very own Dementia Champion, Amina Ditta, within the Kirklees team, offering Dementia Friends sessions to staff, volunteers, service users and partners. I am proud of my Dementia Friends badge and of the commitment all of my team demonstrate in fulfilling our action plan promises.
