Aspen Healthcare is proud to have supported Dementia Action Week (DAW) this year (17 to 23 May) with a series of events and activities to raise awareness of this debilitating family of diseases.
Across the UK, there are more than 850,000 people who have dementia, a figure that is expected to rise to over 1m by 2025. One in 14 people over the age of 65 have dementia, and the condition affects 1 in 6 people over 80.
For Dementia Action Week, we encouraged staff across our sites to sign up to become a ‘Dementia Friend’ with the Alzheimer’s Society.
A Dementia Friend is somebody that learns about dementia so they can help their community. Dementia Friends help by raising awareness and understanding, so that people living with dementia can continue to live in the way they want. Dementia Friends can also get involved with things like volunteering, campaigning or wearing a badge to raise awareness.
Across Aspen Healthcare, we increased the number of dementia friends among staff from 771 before DAW to more than 1,013 – an increase of more than 30 per cent. Congratulations to our staff and a huge thanks to everyone involved in this initiative!
About dementia
A progressive and degenerative brain disease, the effects of dementia impede messages that are transmitted in the brain, meaning ordinary, day-to-day tasks and activities for people with dementia become much more difficult to do, including normal executive functioning (making it harder to for example have a shower or get dressed), memory loss, and behavioural and psychological symptoms.
You can find out more about dementia on the Alzheimer’s Society website.