Dementia awareness events head to Uppermill

Stephanie Doherty and Helan Graham of Caremark, Oldham, have teamed up with local solicitor, Wrigley Claydon, to launch ‘Talking about Dementia’ – a series of Dementia awareness events for local residents.

Free to attend, the events will run every four weeks with a special emphasis on Dementia awareness and advice and guidance on will writing and power of attorney advice from Rachel Damianou of Wrigley Claydon.

The first event took place at the Conservative Club on High Street, Uppermill.

Originally planned as a one-off as part of Dementia Action Week, the event was such a success it was decided to run them monthly from now on.

Stephanie said: “There are 850,000 people living with dementia in the UK today.

"By 2025 the number is expected to rise to over one million.

"Shockingly, Dementia is the leading cause of death for women in the UK and yet, surprisingly, lots of people know very little about it.

“The aim of these sessions is to raise awareness and provide some really useful and practical advice for anyone, whether or not they know someone with Dementia or have been given a diagnosis themselves.

"The more people know, understand about symptoms and how to support people with Dementia in everyday life, then the better that our lives as a community can be.”

As a trained Dementia Friends champion for the Alzheimer’s Society, Stephanie will run a Dementia Friends session at each event to raise awareness, promote understanding and encourage the community to come together in support of those affected.

“The events will always be held at the Conservative Club and everyone is welcome," added Stephanie.

“It’s really relaxed and friendly. We start off with tea, coffee and then take it from there.

"We’re so passionate about getting people talking about Dementia – it’s not a taboo subject and as a group, we have so much knowledge and experience to share.

"The response to our first event was so wonderful, we’re delighted that we can now make this a regular source of advice and support for the community.”

The next events will take place on Wednesday, June 20 and Wednesday, July 18, starting at 9:30am and running until 12 noon.

For more information contact the team at Caremark in Oldham on 0161 627 0891.