More than 70 people from businesses, public services and community groups across the city came to the open meeting of the Leeds Dementia Action Alliance on 19 May at West Yorkshire Playhouse, to find out more about building dementia friendly communities in Leeds.
Bob Fulcher spoke eloquently and with a dash of humour about living with dementia, setting the scene for other speakers. Inspector Yvette Hamill from West Yorkshire Police explained how her team has benefitted from dementia awareness training, and further good examples of local organisations taking positive action came from Nicky Taylor from West Yorkshire Playhouse, Peter Smith from Dementia Friendly Rothwell, Erica Ward from Metro, Ripaljeet Kaur from Touchstone Leeds and Maggie Graham, who co-ordinates the alliance for the Leeds Older People’s Forum. Tim Sanders spoke for Leeds City Council and the NHS Clinical Commissioning groups in Leeds, who support this campaign and the national Dementia Friends campaign, as important initiatives to enable people live well with dementia.
The meeting was chaired by Mick Ward, head of commissioning for adult social care, Leeds City Council. He said: “It was a great way to celebrate Dementia Awareness Week and raise awareness of all the work that is taking place to help Leeds become more dementia friendly. I genuinely thought it was one of the more inspiring events I have been to – a real example of seeing organisations change and develop fantastic potential. Every organisation that deals with the public can do something positive to help people with dementia and carers feel better supported in our communities”.
If your organisation would like to sign up, you can download the Leeds Dementia Action Alliance leaflet and form.