Harrogate and Ripon Dementia Awareness Event a Success

Published 15 September 2014.

Local teams from Carefound Home Care and Dementia Forward recently hosted a dementia awareness session attended by members of the community voluntary team from Harrogate & Ripon Centre for Voluntary Service.

The session started off with an introduction to dementia as a condition and what local advice and support services are available to families provided by Jill Quinn, CEO of local specialist charity Dementia Forward. Oliver Stirk from local home care and dementia care provider, Carefound Home Care, then gave an introduction to the specialist technique used by their home care team called the SPECAL method, as developed by the Contented Dementia Trust. Detailed and varied questions and group discussion then followed.

Oliver Stirk from Carefound Home Care commented: “This dementia awareness event proved to be a great opportunity to not only inform members of the Harrogate & Ripon Centre for Voluntary Service about dementia but also discuss important local issued relating to the condition. Communication and collaboration amongst local health and social care professionals is vital in helping elderly people retain their independence at home for longer and we very much enjoyed the session.”

Jane Cozens, Manager of Harrogate & Ripon Centre for Voluntary Service, commented: “Our volunteers were very positive about the session, and found it really useful. They all commented on how much more information is available now about dementia. It was also good for us to be able to offer our volunteers training.”

Carefound Home Care is a provider of specialist home care and dementia care services to elderly people in Yorkshire, enabling clients to continue to live independently in the comfort of their own home whilst maintaining the highest quality of life achievable. Services can include anything from basic domestic support, companionship, personal care, medication help through to supporting people with more complex conditions such as dementia. The flexible service is available from 1 hour to 24 hours per day, 365 days a year, on both an hourly or 24-hour live in care basis.

To contact Carefound Home Care in Harrogate call: 01423 774070, for Ripon call: 01765 530000, for Wetherby call: 01937 220200. For additional information please visit: www.carefound.co.uk.