Dementia Friendly Wexford – working in partnership to make Wexford a dementia friendly county

Description

Dementia Friendly Wexford – a local authority led initiative

Making Wexford a dementia friendly county through a collaborative and partnership approach with strong communication across state, voluntary, business and community groups. Establishing linkages between all relevant stakeholders to support and advise people living with dementia and ensuring they have access to all relevant supports and services in an easy to understand and easily accessible way.

During discussions that took place locally during the Age Friendly strategy public consultations and Alliance meetings in recent years the issue of dementia was identified as an issue with the result that we did 3 things:

1. We set up the Wexford Dementia Alliance
2. We held a dementia specific focus group meeting as part of the strategy consultations
3. We focused on dementia in the Age Friendly strategy and Action Plan 2022-2026

Wexford County Council took the lead in implementing a number of initiatives and projects aimed at making public and other support services more accessible and easier to use for people living with dementia and their carers.

The following projects and training were rolled out:
– Enniscorthy Age Friendly Town was rolled out with a particular focus on dementia. his included ASI dementia awareness training for local shops, pharmacies and businesses many of whom implemented specific actions to make heir businesses more age friendly.
– Enniscorthy Town walkability audit was carried out in 2021 which included people living with dementia and their carers.
– ASI Dementia Awareness Training was rolled out for WCC customer facing staff including the Customer Services Unit, Fire Services as well as technical staff including planners, housing staff and district engineers and technicians. Training was also provided and hosted by Wexford County Council for Alliance members including An Garda Síochana and Local Link bus service.
– Wexford Dementia Alliance was set up and hosted and facilitated by WCC – this group was established to develop initiatives with a focus on the health and wellbeing of people living with dementia in Wexford and their carers. Projects carried out to date include the Dementia Information Leaflet and Directory of Services for Older People.
– Linking in with Healthy Ireland to get funding for dementia initiatives in 2023/24 including the dementia bus, dementia day care in the community (community centres) and supporting the GAA & ASI sporting memories events in local spots clubs.
– Comunicaton and Awareness raising through Wexford PPN, Healthy Wexford and WCC Communications Team.

Aim of Initiative

The aim of the initiative is to make Wexford a dementia friendly county where people living with dementia and their carers are easily able to access the supports and services that they need.

Who is it aimed at

People living with dementia and their carers.

3 Steps critical to success

1. Buy in from all the relevant stakeholders. The Wexford Dementia Alliance was key in the success of this initiative. This is a collaboration of health and social care professionals and various organisations involved in the support of people with dementia. These include Wexford County Council (who host the group), HSE, Healthy Wexford, the Alzheimer’s Society of Ireland, Wexford Family Carers Ireland, An Garda Síochana, Wexford Older People’s Council, HSE’s Dementia: Understand Together campaign as well as carers representatives.
2. Good communication was key to the success of the work of the group. This was done through the organisations own communicaton channels, local press and media (local newspapers and radio) and through groups or other structures including the PPN, Healthy Wexford and the HSE’s Dementia: Understand Together office.
3. Training in dementia awareness for all parties involved was important. Training was provided by trainers from ASI and rolled out to key customer facing staff in WCC and other Alliance parties such as An Garda Síochana and Wexford Local Link. We also have plans in 2023 to roll out training for the Dementia Bus for decision maker in WCC including members of the LCDC, Healthy County Committee and planners/technical staff – https://www.training2care.com/virtual-dementia-tour.htm

3 Challenges in Planning / Delivery

1. Time commitments from key people across a variety of organisations. It can be hard to being together very busy people including e.g. Wexford General Hospital consultant geretrician for meetings. However, once they see the benefits and results from working together they are keen to attend meetings.
2. Budget constraints. Collectively as a group we do not have a budget to deliver on projects and initiatives. However, what we have done is accessed funding through other available funding sources e.g. Healthy Wexford or Age Friendly.
3. Making it relevant. Trying to get the message across that dementia is an issue that affects all of society can be challenging but through local and national campaigns this is changing.

3 Outcomes / Benefits

1. The Dementia Information Leaflet was produced in colloboration between all the parties involved as above which is used by health professionals and support groups as an initial source of information for people when they first get a diagnosis of dementia. It signposts them to many of the services and supports that are available to them locally in an easy and accessible format.
2. Wexford Directory of Services for Older People was a project designed and developed through the Wexford Dementia Alliance in 2022/23.The directory which provides information on essential supports and services available for older people across Wexford and includes practical advice and information on how to contact local services like the citizens information office, the purpose of eircodes, how to make a will, and a useful list of all public toilets in the county. It also contains chapters on the entitlements available to older people, including medical cards and fuel allowance, and a section which specifically focuses on health services in Wexford with a full list of contact numbers for medical centres in the county. The housing chapter in the directory offers in-depth explanations on subjects ranging from housing aid for older people to the housing aid adaptation grant and is followed by the home service supports and maintenance chapter which details the various schemes available for homeowners in Wexford.

   A full chapter is dedicated to safety and security with contact numbers for local garda stations, information on the seniors alert scheme and the bogus caller card initiative as well as advice on how to shop online safely. There is also an entire section dedicated to social and leisure activities in Wexford for older people with details on clubs and associations, active retirement groups, exercise classes, Wexford Sports Active, training and education opportunities, library services, men’s sheds, and volunteering opportunities.

   The transportation section looks at public transport options in your area with a list of bus and rail services available in the county, it also explains the application process for free travel cards and the all Ireland free travel scheme. For those dealing with an illness, whether personally or in their family, there are a list of support groups for a range of conditions including Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, arthritis, and broader organisations such as Family Carers Ireland, the Irish Wheelchair Association, ALONE, and the National Council for the Blind. The directory also includes a list of other useful numbers, an index, and a comprehensive guide to all the wheelchair parking spaces in the county

   The directory is available on the HSE and WCC websites and copies are currently being distributed to hospitals, community nursing units, primary care centres, pharmacies, post offices, credit unions, churches, libraries and family resource centres across the county.

3. Awareness raising amongst key decision makers, planners, engineers and customer facing staff on the challenges facing people living with dementia. It is not simply about memory loss. Dementia has physical, psychological, social and economic impacts, not only for people living with dementia, but also for their carers, families and society at large.Signs and symptoms of dementia can include forgetting things or recent events, being confused, even in familiar places and misjudging distances to objects visually. By training key people in how dementia affects people they can change how they communicate and design for people living with dementia so they can continue to live in society for as long as possible.