Supporting Those Living With Dementia at Ghyllmount
As we reached the end of World Alzheimer’s Month in September, we want to take a moment to reaffirm our commitment to supporting those living with dementia and their carers and loved ones here at Ghyllmount.
We have identified that care for the elderly is a rapidly growing sector that is often forgotten.
Within our community and own patient list we started to notice an increase in dementia and people affected by it. Over recent years we have come to understand that those living with dementia need and deserve special consideration. As a team we realised that we weren’t doing enough to help so we pledged to do more.
Learning to Better Understand Dementia
We have attended many courses and events on the subject of the management of Alzheimer’s and Dementia and have returned from them determined that Ghyllmount can make a difference to these people who deserve our special consideration.
We recently hired the ‘Dementia bus’ which gave us a virtual experience of what living with dementia might feel like for some people.
Walking in Their Shoes
The staff received training in the morning and patients and members of the public joined us in the afternoon. It was a real eye opener. By Walking in the shoes of a person with dementia, it helped us to understand the issues that they experience every day. We experienced being confused, isolated, lost, intimidated, vulnerable and much more and helping us to understand what we need to change to improve quality of care.
Getting involved and informed about dementia has been an enriching experience for us as a practice team. It’s likely we will all be touched personally by it at some point in our lives and we’re really pleased to be helping to remove the stigma and make all our patients feel comfortable, reassured and happy when they visit.
Changes We Have Made at Ghyllmount
We have made several adaptations around the practice to help make visits more comfortable, calm, and accessible. We also offer free resources and guides on living well after a dementia diagnosis, available for anyone to take away.
These guides are free of charge, and you don’t need to be a Ghyllmount patient to collect one. If you think they may help you or someone you know, feel free to pop in and take a copy.
