Widnes Care Home Hosts Dementia Awareness Week Event
A WIDNES care home is helping to raise awareness of dementia as part of a national week-long initiative.
Dementia Awareness Week runs from Sunday to Friday, 14th to 19th May, with various activities taking place in the town.
Halton View Care Home, on Sadler Street, hosted a Dementia Friends session for residents, their families, staff and visitors.
The Alzheimer’s Society Dementia Friends programme aims to change perceptions of dementia by sharing information and encouraging participants to support those living with the condition.
Almost a dozen local residents became Dementia Friends at the session at Halton View Care Home, run by Ashley Dodd, Alzheimer’s Society Community Fundraiser for Cheshire.
She said: “Dementia Friends sessions aim to transform the way the nation thinks, acts and talks about dementia.
“It was great to see the event at Halton View so well attended. I’d like to thank the care home for hosting.”
Staff at Halton View have also been fundraising to create a dementia friendly sensory garden at the care home, as part of their Dementia Awareness Week activities.
The home’s activities coordinators Lisa Waller and Abigail Murphy raised £127 with a cake sale. While carer Deborah Pritchard completed a sponsored silence and raised £289.
The funds will go towards planters, furniture, a water feature, bird table and a wide variety of fresh flowers for the care home’s garden.
Sensory gardens have proven therapeutic benefits for those living with dementia, as they elicit memories through touch, sound and smell.
Amanda Kelly, home manager at Halton View Care Home, said: “Every year, we organise fundraisers and other events for Dementia Awareness Week, as it’s a cause very close to our hearts at the care home.
