The theme of this year’s World Alzheimer’s Month (or World Dementia Month as I prefer to call it) is #KnowDementia. The aim is to highlight the early signs and symptoms of dementia to enable people to get a more timely…
Supporting a person with dementia to keep busy
In the strange pandemic on/off lockdown world we’ve lived in for the past 18 months, maintaining focus on tasks and activities has, for many people, become really difficult. This isn’t a new feeling for many people with dementia, however, who…
Family reunions when a loved one has dementia
With the UK summertime in full swing and COVID restrictions having eased, many people are meeting up with friends and family who they haven’t seen for a long time. For most people these will be joyous, emotional reunions that are…
It’s time to change the record
Social media often gets a bad press, sometimes justifiably so, but it can be an amazing place to connect with people who share our views and experiences too. Something came my way last week that fits into that positive category…
Cure the care system? I wish
How ironic that in the week before Dementia Action Week, this year themed around social care reform, the latest Queen’s Speech yet again failed to provide detailed plans to address the issues that have plagued the care system for years.…
Making meaningful conversation
“When was the last time you really engaged with a person living with dementia?” This was a question I posed during a recent online training session I ran with a small group of social care staff. Some of the…
Regrets, I’ve had a few…
Listening to the radio recently, Frank Sinatra’s ‘My Way’ came on. These two lines really stood out for me: “Regrets, I’ve had a few. But then again, too few to mention.” They got me thinking, as I so often do…
Intergenerational lessons from the (home education) classroom
I’m probably going to put myself into a very small group of parents with my opening comment for this blog, but I’m so glad I’ve had the chance to home school our daughter. Whilst I know many parents have struggled…
Five things I’m glad we bought my dad
A question I’m often asked is what would I recommend buying a person with dementia? This has become even more pertinent with so many family members unable to see relatives with dementia during the pandemic, and looking for ideas of…
Resolve to not put off until tomorrow what you can do today
As we come to the end of a year that I’m sure no one expected to turn out the way it has, most of us are probably feeling that our coping skills have been sorely tested. The exponential rise of…
When eating just isn’t happening
One of the topics I haven’t covered in depth on this blog is refusal to eat. So many of my blog posts are inspired by our experiences with my dad, and one thing he never did was refuse to eat,…
Knowledge is power
One of the loveliest parts of my work is being able to help people by sharing our experiences as a family, augmented by what I have learnt from my campaigning and consultancy in the 8+ years since my dad died.…
Demanding better for people with dementia
Ordinarily, September is dominated for me by World Alzheimer’s Month (or World Dementia Month as I prefer to call it), which in practice means 30 days of sharing all of the great content, ideas and initiatives that lots of fantastic…
