Tea parties, coffee, cake, song and dance are all being lined up for Dementia Action Week in Walsall along with an information event for people living with the condition, their families and carers.
Walsall Healthcare NHS Trust is working in partnership with Accord/Pathways for Life, Link Line, Accord Care and Support Age Matters, Walsall Clinical Commissioning Group, Dudley and Walsall Mental Health Partnership Trust and the Memory Assessment Service.
Dementia Action Week runs from Monday 20 May until Sunday 26 May and aims to bring together individuals, workplaces and communities to take action and improve the lives of people living with dementia.
The information event will take place in the main atrium of Walsall Manor Hospital on Thursday 23 May between 10am and 2pm. Visitors will be able to visit a host of stalls and stands to find out about:
Distraction therapy equipment that Walsall Healthcare’s Library & Knowledge Services loans out to staff
Dementia support workers
Memory Assessment Service (available from 12noon until 2pm on the day)
The Enhanced Community Mental Health Team Older Adults from Dudley and Walsall Mental Health Partnership Trust
And talented youngsters from Little Rascals Nursery will be singing in the atrium between 2pm and 3pm on that day.
Walsall Healthcare’s Older People’s Mental Health Liaison Team will also be delivering brief education sessions for staff throughout the week on their promotional stand adjacent to costa coffee on a variety of subjects around assessment tools.
Modular wards will be holding coffee and a chat sessions to initiate discussions amongst staff, patients and carers about dementia
Jennifer Robinson, the trust’s Lead Nurse for Safeguarding Adults, said: “The trust Dementia Steering Group is really looking forward to Dementia Action Week as it’s an opportunity to showcase the work we’ve been doing to support our patients living with dementia and make our services inclusive and accessible.
“Our ward tea parties, for example, are a really effective way to encourage patients to socialise and enjoy eating and drinking in a relaxed, friendly atmosphere, recalling fond memories and listening to music or playing games.
“People living with dementia, their families and carers will be able to find information and support all in one place at Thursday’s event and see how we’re working in partnership in Walsall to make the borough dementia-friendly.”
On Monday 20 May there will be a coffee and cake morning between 10am and 1pm at Walsall CCG, Jubilee House, Leamore, for anyone who wants to bring a cake or make a donation to Link Line. The Mayor of Walsall is due to attend between 12noon and 1pm.
Accord/Pathways for Life will hold a dementia café in the main atrium on Thursday 23 May and Link Line will host afternoon tea at Mattersley Court in Mossley between 1pm and 3pm that day.
On Friday 24 May Ward 2 will host a tea party and a tea dance will take place that day between 1pm and 4pm at the Community Engagement Centre in Ford Street, Pleck.
For Walsall Healthcare staff Tommy Whitelaw, Dementia Carers Voices-UK project lead, will be holding three sessions for them to hear about his experience of caring for his beloved mother who had dementia.
These sessions on 21 May are open to everyone across the trust, clinical and non-clinical, and Tommy’s passionate account of his caring experience is extremely thought-provoking.