The Countess of Chester Hospital took part in a range of activities to support Dementia Awareness Day 2013.
As part of a day of action to promote the day and to support World Alzheimer’s Month throughout September, the Countess hosted a number of events for patients, relatives, visitors or anyone impacted by dementia.
Dementia Awareness Day is a global initiative led by healthcare providers and key partners to bring staff and members of the public together to understand dementia and to help make a difference to people who suffer from the disease.
Among the activities, the Countess hosted an interactive dementia experience in the main entrance which allowed people to experience what it is like to live with dementia.
This experience was provided courtesy of Training2Care who specialise in healthcare training.
The experience involved participants wearing headphones playing a variety of sounds and noises, tunnel vision glasses, thick gloves, and shoe innersoles with spikes – all to emphasise the disorientating and challenging nature of the side effects of dementia.
Participants were then asked to try to complete some simple tasks such as hanging up clothes.
All the participants highlighted how difficult it was to perform simple tasks such as folding clothes and grouping socks together.
There was also a Dementia Friends session that took place in the Education and Training Centre during the day to provide useful information about dementia and the opportunity to talk to experts who provide advice and support.
Alzheimer's Society also supported the event with an information stand along with staff to give patients and members of the public the opportunity to talk about issues associated with dementia.
Director of nursing and quality at the Countess, Alison Kelly, said: “One in three of us will suffer from dementia through our lifetime and with a growing elderly population, dementia is the most common devastating disease that we will all have to face as patients, healthcare providers, carers, families and loved ones – we are all likely to encounter the challenges of dementia in some way throughout our life.
“This day was about raising awareness of dementia, to demonstrate what we as a trust are doing to improve the quality of care provided to patients, and also to give patients, visitors, members of the public and staff the opportunity to see the realities and the challenges associated with the disease.”
