Our Connected Neighbourhoods project lead Kevin Harrison spoke with Donna Paterson, Alzheimer Scotland Dementia Advisor for Stirling and Clackmannanshire, to discuss the impact of COVID-19 on local support from Alzheimer Scotland and the effect it has had in connecting people living with dementia and their unpaid carers to their neighbourhoods.
Donna has been a partner on OCN since the start of the project in 2017.
Produced by OCN volunteers, partners and participants.
This is the latest in a series of blog posts reflecting on the experiences of people living with dementia, their carers and neighbourhoods during the coronavirus pandemic. The posts are a synthesis of perspectives gathered with people living with dementia in Central Scotland over the course of the Covid-19 outbreak in 2020. These have been collected by OCN volunteers and drafted collaboratively in order to build a larger picture of the impact of Covid-19 and what the changes around it have meant for people living with dementia and their carers. It is important to highlight that in most instances these are people who will have been shielding for a significant period of time. It is clear, therefore, that more must be done to improve their access to support, community and to reduce loneliness. We hope these articles will widen understanding of the issues and draw attention to what can be a hidden problem for many people.