Five Bullet Friday (8 November 2018)

Kainde Kevin and I presented (and facilitated) at the councils big huddle yesterday. As well as giving attendees a whistle stop overview of the project we emphasised how the project dovetails with many of the council’s main priorities, the strategic links and how everyone can get involved and refer new people to the project. It was a great turn out and a pleasure to facilitate and present at such a well organised event. Martin Quirk – DSDC Architect and OCN environment strand lead, also presented on dementia friendly design and we made links with the council’s planning policy team who are keen to incorporate dementia friendly design into their action plan. We are looking forward to collaborating with them and with other members of the Stirling Council.

From Janet McLachlan

We have now had two sessions. 15 people attended the session on Friday which was a wonderful turn-out, and there was much enthusiastic participation as people are relaxing into the group. I attach two photographs (consent has all been given) so you get the idea. We will be videoing some of the singing session this week. The footage will be included in the presentation on Wed 14th Nov to the Alzheimer’s Scotland group/Finnish visitors. Many thanks again for the support, and please do keep spreading the word!

All the best, Janet.

Working to support our partners Alzheimer Scotland we will be hosting 10 finish delegates next week. The delegates are made up of member of council, voluntary and dementia organisations who are investigating how to develop their own dementia friendly neighbourhoods. They will hear about Our Connected Neighbourhoods, Artlink Central, Macrobert Creative Learning Team and Paths for All. We are looking forward to creating a lasting working relationship to share and develop dementia friendly neighbourhood’s approaches here and in Finland.

Thank you Susan for the opportunity to be part of this.

We met with several families living with dementia on Friday for what was a brilliant and interesting environmental audit for a number of reasons. We used two different ‘tools’ to look at the building itself then the surrounding area. As well as some environmental improvements we got a lot of positive feedback especially how the staff work to be aware of people’s needs and how they adjust for people using the supermarket. It was a really positive piece of work and we want to emphasise and celebrate great practice as well as highlighting improvements from the perspective of people living with dementia. Staff and volunteers waited on at the end and had a discussion after participants left which was really useful and varied. As well as what we were there to do other informal signposting and support opportunities took place through the process of the focus group which was a fantastic outcome in itself and one of the important aims of OCN. The volunteers contributed greatly to this and really made it the success it was. Once the feedback is written up we will feed back the outcomes from the audit to Sainsbury’s. We also discovered our partners Alzheimer Scotland have already been doing some work nationally with Sainsbury’s so we will be contacting Anne McWhinnie – Dementia Friends Programme Manager to see how we can support and collaborate on this. We will also arrange a coffee meet up with participants to update them, which could also be the start of one of our first clusters of community support. Very exciting!

From Sarah Noone:

Led by Dementia Project Worker, Sarah Noone, this free information session will explore the impact of dementia upon people from BME communities, the barriers that may prevent people from accessing support to live well with dementia, and what we can do to provide more inclusive dementia support services in the Forth Valley.

The full details of the event are as follows:

Date and time: Tuesday 27th November, 10.30am – 12.30pm (registration from 10.15am)

Venue: Lesser Hall, Albert Halls, Dumbarton Road, Stirling, FK8 2QL MAP

Accessibility: Please note that the venue is wheelchair accessible. If you have any accessibility requirements, please inform us at the time of booking your place.

Refreshments: Tea, coffee, and light snacks will be provided. Should you have any allergies or dietary requirements, please inform us at the time of booking your place.

Booking: If you would like to register for this event, please visit https://dementia-bme-stirling.eventbrite.co.uk. Alternatively, you can contact us via email at admin@csrec.org.uk, by phone on 01324 610 950, or visit our office at the Community Education Centre, Park Street, Falkirk, FK1 1RE. Please note that places are limited, and booking is therefore essential.

Please see and distribute the attached leaflet.

Wednesday 21st November, 10am – 12 Noon (followed by lunch)

Venue TBC.

We will work on developing the questions for the planned focus group and strand leader interviews element of the evaluation. All volunteer community researchers are welcome. Please register your attendance with Kainde.