By Jill Stocks
This week is Dementia Action Week and there are several events over the next seven days in Horsforth organised by Dementia Friendly Horsforth and their partner organisations.
As well as information sessions and social events there is an opportunity to attend the dementia bus event.
On Tuesday, 20 May there’s a dementia information session presented by an Alzheimers Society ambassador at Right at Home, situated at the bottom of Broadgate Lane, at 2pm. You can secure a place by contacting Right at Home.
Right at Home provide home care and support in Leeds North, Otley and Horsforth including dementia care, companionship, respite care and specialised care including end of life care.
On Wednesday 21st Home Instead are hosting a live entertainment event with MHA Communities Horsforth at Central Methodist Church on Town Street between 1pm and 3pm.
It’s £5 entry with entertainment from Damion, refreshments, a quiz and a raffle as well as fun and friendship.
The Dementia Experience Bus, which is sponsored by Home Instead, will be at Lister Hill Baptist Church on Thursday 22nd May between 10am and 3pm.
This virtual experience is an opportunity to experience what it is like for somebody living with dementia and the challenges they face.
The experience is described here in this 30-second video and in this article.
The experience, including a briefing and a de-briefing with an opportunity to discuss your thoughts, lasts 30 minutes and you will have the opportunity to meet representatives from various organisations who provide dementia care.
The bus is presented in association with Training 2 Care, who provide training around dementia and other conditions, and representatives of the organisation will be present to offer advice.
Tessa Andrews from Home Instead said: “The Virtual Dementia Tour offers a scientifically proven way to replicate dementia and is an invaluable learning experience for anyone who is supporting a person living with the condition.
“Highly visual and aural, the experience, which takes place on a specially adapted bus, sees participants wearing goggles, headphones and spiky insoles.
“They are then asked to perform everyday tasks but with distorted vision, loud noises and sensory overload which replicate the sensory changes associated with dementia.”
Drop ins are welcome and refreshments will be provided but if you would like to guarantee a place contact Home Instead.
Home Instead provides specialist care, home care and health and complex care to help people with various medical conditions and challenges stay in their own home.
The Old Kings Arms on The Green is the venue for a dementia friendly quiz night on Thursday, 22 May at 7.30pm.
The weeks activities in Horsforth finish on Friday, 23 May, firstly with the MHA Walk and Talk to Horsforth Hall Park meeting at Fink Hill Car Park at 10.15am.
There is then a dementia information session at 2pm at Horsforth Community Hub and Library on Town Street.
Across the course of the week the events also provide an opportunity to meet the team from Dementia Friendly Horsforth.
MHA Communities Horsforth run a number of dementia friendly activities weekly and monthly at Central Methodist Church on Town Street, including board games, crafts, exercise groups and coffee mornings, as well as shopping and cinema trips.
You can find out more about all their activities in our What’s On section.
- More Horsforth news and views from WLD can be found here.
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