Dementia Inclusive Dungarvan

Description

In 2023, Dungarvan in partnership with The Alzheimer Society of Ireland (ASI) launched an exciting initiative to begin Dungarvan’s journey toward becoming a Dementia Inclusive Community – one where individuals living with dementia and their families can fully participate in society, supported by a community that understands and embraces them.
Since then, the Dementia Inclusive Dungarvan group has been established – a group of volunteers dedicated to making this vision a reality in Dungarvan and they have made huge advancements. The group is made up of individuals, representatives from community organisations such as the local Lions Club, Older Persons Council, etc, people from local businesses and from statutory organisations such as Waterford CoCo, D&WW Chamber of Commerce and Waterford Local development.
The activities they have undertaken include

1. The launch of a highly successful Memory Cafe – once a month service that gives the opportunity for people living with Dementia to meet, have fun and be socially engaged together with their loved ones in a safe space.
2. Over 125 people have attended the free Dementia Awareness Training for individuals, organisations and businesses – equipping people with an understanding of Dementia, training in appropriate communication skills and knowledge of how to support people living with Dementia and signpost people to supports
3. The distribution of Dementia Supports and Service information across the community into shops, Pharmacies and community settings raising awareness of supports for PLWD.
4. The ASI had launched a day centre but were struggling for numbers of attendees so the volunteers actively promoted the centre encouraging people to try it out, ensuring the numbers increased and the service was sustainable
5. The recruitment of local schools to the Creating a Dementia Inclusive Programme
6. Dementia Inclusive Cinema screenings – once a week the local cinema provide these sessions whereby the lighting is not as dark, the sound isn’t too high and they work with groups to help them choose appropriate films.
7. The establishment of very successful events such as Tea Day and Memory walk to again raise awareness, bring people together and reduce the stigma around Dementia.
The dedication of this group to making Dungarvan a more Dementia Inclusive Community has been truly astounding, and they continue to dedicate their time and efforts to make a real difference to the people living with Dementia in Dungarvan, their family members and Carers.
Dementia Inclusive Dungarvan works from the ground up ultimately helping the creation of new supports for people living with Dementia and their carers in the wider Dungarvan district.
Dementia Inclusion is not restricted to people living with dementia. It encompasses the families and carers of people with Dementia, their issues, challenges, and ideas. Working with community groups, Transition Year students from local secondary schools, front of house staff in various organisations, customer service assistants in local businesses, this initiative creates awareness of Dementia in everyday life, demonstrating how every person in society can make a positive impact and support people with Dementia and their carers

Aim of Initiative

The aim is to create a Dementia Inclusive Community in Dungarvan – a Community where individuals living with dementia and their families can fully participate in society, supported by a community that understands and embraces them. People should be able to live well with Dementia and go about their normal lives as much as is possible.
A Dementia Inclusive Community is one in which:
· People living with Dementia and their families fully participate in society and have a place in it.
· They enjoy respect, freedom, dignity, equality, accessibility, and quality of life.
· They are empowered to live independently, free from stigma, discrimination, exploitation, violence, or abuse.
· A community where they feel included and involved, with choice and control over their day-to-day lives.
Dementia Inclusive Dungarvan ensures:
· People with dementia and their families and carers are understood, respected and supported, and confident they can contribute to community life.
· Businesses, organisations and people in the community will be aware of and understand Dementia.
Dungarvan is a wonderful example of a community that truly embraces being more Dementia Inclusive – from the extra services such as the memory café, to having many of the frontline staff from the traffic warden to the postmaster having partaken in the awareness workshop to having a cinema that has specific Dementia specific screenings ( old films and where it’s not as dark or loud as normal) Dungarvan has left no stone unturned yet are still planning and striving for more improvements

Who is it aimed at

While the initiative is about creating a better more supportive world for the person living with Dementia, their family members and Carers the programme is designed so that everyone from the school child to the oldest person in the community has a part to play so it is essentially for everyone and provides huge opportunities for intergenerational collaborations.

3 Steps critical to success

1. It is critical to involve the local people living with dementia, their family Members and Carers in any decisions with regards to what is needed in the area – they are the people who know what is lacking in the area and what would make their lives easier. The agencies and organisation who support older persons were all included in the consultation too. They need to have an input into how their community can best support them.
2. Stakeholder engagement – It is really important to engage with all the agencies in the area be they statutory agencies such as the County Council ( All departments from the Community Department to the Library to traffic wardens have participated in the dementia Awareness workshops), the HSE, Waterford Local Development or the WWETB along with other agencies such as the Chamber of Commerce, Alone, Sage advocacy, Local Community Hospital etc to ensure everyone is involved from the planning stage so each can bring their own strength and skills to the project. This also includes community agencies such as the tidy town, Older persons Council, Lions Club, Mens Shed, Women’s shed and sports clubs. They can all help in some way with various projects.
3. Clear communication is really important – it is vital to keep everyone informed of what is happening so the group has build up a really good relationship with local media and they regularly run a section on the progress of the group. So much so that Nationwide approached the group last year to do a promo about the work that they were doing which aired on National TV on June 7th 2024

3 Challenges in Planning / Delivery

1. The main challenge was the lack of local connections in Dungarvan – while ASI knew it was an area that needed supports we actually knew very few people in the area. However, once we linked in with the Chamber of Commerce and the County Council they all got behind the programme and have been instrumental in the success. The engagement of so many groups and organisations make this a very inclusive programme and a huge opportunity for people to volunteer in a project where they can clearly see the impact of their work.
2. The lack of a suitable venue for the Memory Café was a huge stumbling block in establishing this much needed service however with the launch of the Dementia Inclusive Community Programme one of the volunteers made her premises available free of charge and has also recruited musicians etc to play at each Café. Several other premises have been made available free of charge to the group including the cinema – for dementia specific movie days, the tennis club for tea days and memory events.
3. Stigma. When we initially started this programme in Dungarvan there was definitely a Stigma around Dementia but this is now changing. In the beginning people would not attend the Saturday day centre as there was a stigma associated with it but due to the work of the friends group many more people now attend. They went out and spoke with families who they knew needed the support encouraging them to attend and in some cases they actually offered to go with them themselves to make sure they were okay. Similarly with the memory café people encouraged people to come along with them. This sort of community care is very special and is lifechanging for the person living with Dementia and even more so for their family members and Carers.

3 Outcomes / Benefits

1. The number of people now receiving dementia support services in Dungarvan has risen hugely in the time since the programme began. Not only did the numbers attending the Day Centre go from 2/3 to 12/14 but ASI were also able to now prove that there was a need for additional services and were able to source funding to provide a new service to the area called Day Care at home supporting 14 additional families each week providing the person living with Dementia with social interaction and giving the family carer some much needed time to themselves. Approximately 10 more families are receiving the support of the memory café
2. One of the most impactful outcomes of this programme has been the delivery of Free Dementia Awareness Training for individuals, organisations and businesses and there has been an amazing response with over 125 people already participating. This training equips people with an understanding of Dementia, training in appropriate communication skills and knowledge of how to support people living with Dementia and how to signpost people to supports. There has been a very positive response to this from the public as each business whose staff has attended the training displays a Dementia inclusive sticker which is now recognised by the Carers so they know that they will be entering a supportive environment
3. A Dementia inclusive community where people are supported and cared for by the community. From the launch of a highly successful Memory Cafe to the Dementia Inclusive Cinema the possibilities of social engagement for PLWD and their Carers has increased significantly . For example the Memory Cafe is totally funded by the group and while we have a staff member as coordinator all other staff are local volunteers. It is currently a once-a-month service and has been hugely successful. It that gives the opportunity for people living with Dementia to meet, have fun and be socially engaged together with their loved ones in a safe space. The premises is provided by one of the members of the group and several other members volunteer each month providing entertainment, music and interaction.