Dementia Friendly Communities

Dementia-friendly communities are primarily about greater inclusion of people with dementia within their local environments. You might feel as though this is outside your area of expertise, but remember that you don't have to do it alone. Building partnerships with organisations that work with people with dementia and carers will enable you to:

• tap into existing resources and knowledge
• gather the views of people with dementia, their families and carers
• meet specific local needs and support existing agendas and strategies
• Identify activity in the local community that could benefit from your resources and facilities.

There is no one size fit all for communities being dementia friendly. A number of grass roots groups offer coffee mornings, drop in sessions and workshops for people with dementia and their carers. These coffee mornings do not need to be delivered by professionals in the field but a number of dedicated volunteers who have a passion or an interest in working to support vulnerable people.

Another way of creating dementia-friendly communities is by community and public venues becoming more involved and adapting their venues to be more accommodating to dementia sufferers.

There are many ways Parish and Town Councils can help make the communities they represent dementia- friendly. Below are a few things they could do in regards to community buildings;

• Make entrance obvious and clearly signed where necessary
• Signpost entrances and exits clearly
• Signage in lower case lettering is more accessible for everyone
• Alongside text, use a range of cues and clues including symbols and drawings.
• Larger, simple fonts work best
• Use words and symbols to provide clear information about rest rooms
• Provide a quiet seating area where people with dementia can take "time out ".

Parish & Town Councils can also support groups local to them that work to provide a service for people with dementia through offering building space for them to meet or small grant funding to help with initial costs.

The cost of setting up dementia-friendly communities can vary from project to project; there are various avenues for gaining support for funding which are discussed in getting support and funding section.