Dementia & Carer Support: Remember Us

Aim

To support people living with dementia and their carers through reminiscence arts and wellbeing projects during lockdown and beyond.

• Whilst life moves on for many of us, we will make sure that people living with dementia and their carers are not forgotten.

People living with dementia are more likely to have other health conditions which often place them in the high risk category for coronavirus. This means that people living with dementia and their carers face an even longer period of lockdown and isolation. Whilst life moves on for many of us, we will make sure that people living with dementia and their carers are not forgotten.

Age Exchange has supported people living with dementia and their carers for over 38 years through reminiscence arts and wellbeing projects. Our Caring Together Service provides opportunities for wellbeing activities, arts, socialising and peer to peer support for 150 people living with dementia and their carers through 11 different groups in Blackheath, Lambeth and Manchester.

Coronavirus Pandemic

When the coronavirus pandemic hit in March 2020, we took the difficult decision to close our dementia and carer support groups as well as our hub to protect the people we support and our local community who frequently use our community hub, not for profit café and library.

Virtual Day Care Service

We remodelled our dementia and carer support services in light of the pandemic through a virtual day care service. Our Virtual Day Care Service supports 238 people living with dementia and their carers through activity boxes, movement DVDs and wellbeing phone calls to improve wellbeing and reduce feelings of loneliness during the COVID-19 lockdown.

"Thank you for phoning, it's a lifeline, it keeps us going."

The virtual service seeks to temporarily replicate our Caring Together Service but is instead, delivered in their homes through activity boxes and DVDs posted to them, as well as support offered through phone calls. We will continue to provide these services for as long as the people we support need it.

We have already achieved so much;-

•             Support through activity boxes to 238 people living with dementia and their carers.

•             Support through our singing and movement DVDs to 106 people

•             Over 7000 minutes of wellbeing phone calls.

Sustainability Efforts

Whilst our virtual day care service is thriving and well received by the people we support, the closure of our community hub, not for profit café and cancelled fundraising events has led to a projected shortfall of almost £60k. The community hub and events as a whole usually make a significant contribution to our running costs and normally allow us to be sustainable. Our community hub is recognised as a key resource in the community.

We are therefore hoping to raise £15, 000 to contribute to our overall running costs (£295k) which will allow us to remain sustainable in the face of this pandemic until our normal services can resume.

Whilst life moves on for many of us, we will make sure that people living with dementia and their carers are not forgotten.

Thank you.

This project successfully funded on 7th October 2020