Brookdale puts the spotlight on dementia with week of special events

Brookdale puts the spotlight on dementia with week of special events

A Southport day service for Sefton residents with dementia staged a series of special events this week in support of a national initiative to raise awareness of the condition.

Staff, service users and families at the specialist Brookdale Resource Centre in Ainsdale took part in a range of activities to mark Dementia Awareness Week which is organised by the Alzheimer’s Society.

Highlights of the week at the centre – which is run by Sefton’s leading adult social care provider, New Directions – included two fun afternoons of reminiscence and musical memories.

One featured popular Southport vocalist Sophie Bennett, making a return visit to Brookdale with her wide-ranging repertoire of classic songs from the last half-century and beyond.

The second featured music from Remember When, the three-piece jukebox band of Bootle-based charity Sefton Opera, which provides health and wellbeing therapies to older people.

However, there was also a more serious side to the week, which included an information and advice event on dementia issues with representatives of the Alzheimer’s Society, and a training session on how to become one of Sefton’s many Dementia Friends.

Brookdale Manager, Salwa Moustafa, said it’s important for the service to lend its support to campaigns like Dementia Awareness Week.

She explained: “A key objective of this week’s events was to provide fun for our service users, and thanks to the efforts of our staff and the entertainers they all joined in and had a really enjoyable time.

“However, it’s also important to use national events like this to raise awareness of dementia in our area, and the effect it can have on local sufferers and their families, and in doing also challenge the stigma associated with the condition.”

Figures indicate that someone in the world now develops dementia every three seconds, and that by 2050 around 131.5 million people around the globe will be living with the condition.

Brookdale Resource Centre enables the carers of service users with advanced dementia to have an important respite break.

Clients enjoy a wide range of activities at the centre including arts and crafts, sensory stimulation and music and reminiscence therapies.

*  For more information about Brookdale Resource Centre contact Salwa Moustafa on 01704  571026.