Community Conversations

People living with dementia are members of society with the same human right as any other, however, when people are diagnosed with dementia they often experience exclusion, stigma and isolation.

Therefore, it is time to ask people living with dementia, their carers and family members, what is important to them and what they feel their communities can do to become more dementia friendly.

In 2017 in collaboration with Volunteer Edinburgh we were awarded a Development Grant from the Life Changes Trust. As part of this we carried out three community consultation events; we believe that the voices of people living with dementia and their carers should be at the start and the heart of the process of creating dementia friendly communities. We wanted to find out what is important to them and what they feel their communities can do to become more dementia friendly. We also wanted to hear from other members of the community who would like to help support people living with dementia.

Group discussions facilitated by Tirion Seymour from LOOPs

Consultation Outcomes

Our work is embedded in the needs of people in our community; we used these community consultations to establish local requirements for support and opportunities to develop the community to meet the needs of people living with dementia and their carers.

Below is a list of key priorities that have been identified through our consultation process with our implementation strategies:

Offer informal emotional and social support

Currie Library Drop-in Sessions
Second Dementia Café in Currie – Tuesday’s Tea and Tunes
Carers Peer Support Group – at PALM café
Potential Befriending Service in the Penltands Area

Raising community awareness of dementia and educating the community

Dementia Friendly Business Scheme
Dementia Awareness Week
Dementia Training for DFP Volunteers
Attending Networking Events (Parliament Reception, Pentlands Cluster Meetings, Dementia Consultations)

Ensuring dementia friendly environments e.g. dementia friendly signage

Planned Environmental/ Signage Audit of the Pentlands Area
Informing businesses through Dementia Friendly Business Scheme

Information giving

New DFP Leaflets
Currie Library Drop-in Sessions
Preparing a DFP Newsletter
Creating community ‘access points’ in all three communities through the Dementia Friendly Business Scheme

Transport

Out of scope of our project, but hope to cover with a befriending service
Continue to feed into community transport consultation process

You can access detailed Consultation Evaluation Report by following the link below:

Consultation Evaluation Report (pdf)

Please get in touch if you would like more information about these events and our findings.

HOW CAN YOU HELP?

Volunteers are key to so much of what we do. We welcome volunteers to help in a variety of ways. Are you interested in offering some of your time? Find out how you can get involved.