Greene King Achieves Dementia Friends Target

Greene King employees have got behind the Alzheimer’s Society’s latest initiative by signing up to become Dementia Friends. More than 1,000 of the pub retailer and brewer’s employees became a Dementia Friend during March.

There are currently 850,000 people in the UK living with dementia, and Alzheimer’s is the most common type, affecting 62% of those diagnosed. As a pub, restaurant & hotel operator, Greene King employees have the opportunity to make a difference to the lives of their customers with dementia by learning more about the condition.

Rooney Anand, chief executive officer for Greene King said: “I am thrilled that so many of our employees have got behind the Dementia Friends initiative. Many of our people work in customer-facing roles, so I hope with the knowledge we have gained by becoming Dementia Friends we can give greater understanding and support to our customers that live with the disease.”

Jeremy Hughes, chief executive of Alzheimer’s Society said: “We are delighted by the commitment Greene King have shown by creating 1,000 Dementia Friend employees in just a month. This year, 225,000 people will develop dementia, that’s one every three minutes. It is important that employers and employees rooted in local businesses are choosing to become Dementia Friends, so we can increase the understanding of the condition, reduce the stigma, and enable people with dementia to feel more confident within their local community.”

By becoming a Dementia Friend, employees at Greene King have found out the little things that they can do to help people living with dementia feel understood and included in their communities.

The Dementia Friends initiative aims to create a network of four million Dementia Friends by 2020 to help those affected by the condition live well for longer.