Tuesday 17 November 2015

Beti George's words



These are Beti George's words

"David was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s 6 years ago and I’m his sole carer.
Apart from the first two and a half  yrs, when he took part in a new drug trial, we’ve had no support at all.
I’m lucky in that most of the time he’s contented and still has a great sense of humour.
He was always gregarious and loved to socialise. He still does and nothing pleases him more than when people call to see him and keep him company
There are however, “bad days” - and that is when I would appreciate being able to call on a “support worker” who has been dementia trained of course.
There needs to be a revolution in dementia care. In every community there should be a bank of carers properly trained in caring for people with dementia, so that someone like me can call upon when in a crisis. It’s only those who live 24/7 with someone with dementia who can really appreciate what “crisis” means in this context. It really leads to despair and the feeling of utter isolation.

The Welsh Government emphasises their vision of “care in the community.”
All well and good but it means nothing unless support is at hand.

I’m appalled at the lack of proper dementia training there is among professionals working with older people in the community.

Yes, there is a dire need for more training facilities and DUETcare aims to address this through offering a humane approach to caring by understanding what the person with dementia is experiencing and how to connect with the person."


I hear people everyday with similar sentiments to Beti, people need support, care and understanding in their communities. We also need to listen to the voices of those who have a diagnosis of dementia as well as their loved ones. Often those voices get ignored because it can take time, patience and skill to understand what is being said as the dementia can affect those very parts of us.

 DUETcare aims to provide people with the knowledge, skills and values  to maintain a connection through finding creative ways of communication.

 

Please consider a small pledge to make this happen: we have until 20th November 2015


Thanks Jane

 



 

Dementia Training DUETcare - The Starting Point is Language

3Days of Crowdfunding to go for dementia care training programme - The starting point is language

Phew, I didn't realise how difficult it would be to raise money this way, after many attempts of applying for funding through governmental schemes I thought I would appeal to the people that matter. I have had to compete with Pudsey during this appeal which has been a challenge and he has been around quite some time now. But funding for anything child related or cancer related seems to yield great results, why is dementia such a difficult one? We are all aware of our ageing population that we talk about in an abstract kind of way as if it doesnt really relate to ourselves!!! and how the risk of  being diagnosed with dementia rises with age, and here I do apologise to those who have dementia who are younger as you are truly a marginalised group of people that need specialist support and care, DUETcare's principles will still apply but we must be aware of the age and generation to ensure that we approach people within the meaningful context of their individual lives.

If we don't individually know one person with dementia personally, yet, then that time is just around the corner. Soon you will know someone, may be a friend, mother, father, grandparent and we really need to know how to continue to communicate properly and maintain the relationship with that person whom we love.  I am really passionate about making this change to how we view and relate to people with dementia (and I don't like writing in this way as if they and people with dementia are a group of people tied by this label as these principles are across the board and apply to all). Listening to an old friend recently whose wife is having "cognitive difficulties" reinforced to me the importance of language and how we use certain words. For instance, one example of how DUETcare is different from many other dementia awareness training  programmes is that many of those courses run a session called: Understanding difficult behaviours and how to manage them!! Difficult behaviours!! manage them!!!   With DUETcare we look at understanding behaviour, explaining why a person who has dementia may behave in a certain way and if we know that the person may have difficulty in understanding what is being said to them, or has difficulty with their vision and their visual perception then we may understand how frightened and confused that person may feel. Surely then we need to know how to approach them in a caring, feeling, sensitive way, just as we would like to be approached. With the events over the last week throughout the world, in Lebanon and France and in Africa we need to spread love, not retaliation or further hatred, love is what makes our world a magical place and DUETcare's principles are all about love, connection and positive energy.

3 days left, please pledge so that I can set up this training programme for the people around us, as you will be contributing to a movement of care and you never know when you might need it!






Thanks for reading

Jane x