Be Independent Home Care are proud to be part of the Living Well with Dementia Project in Stillorgan – Blackrock, Co. Dublin.This three year community-based pilot project to support people with dementia in the Stillorgan-Blackrock area to continue to live at home and participate in their own community.
The pilot project trials new ways to support people with dementia who are living in the community and those who care for them. The aim is to enable people to continue to live in their own homes for as long as possible.
This week the Irish Times reports upon one of these wonderful supports, The Musical Memories choir in Stillorgan which is designed for the wider community and dementia sufferers. Singing is one of the faculties that stays with people longest after they have been diagnosed with dementia and is certainly one that many of our home care clients enjoy.
Watch the video here http://www.irishtimes.com/life-and-style/health-family/hear-my-song-the-community-choir-keeping-memories-alive-1.1881462
When people develop dementia, they often withdraw from the community they have known all their lives for fear of getting lost, confused, not recognising neighbours or not finding the correct change for groceries. Yet these daily interactions can counteract the isolation associated with dementia.
Eilis Hession, the manager of services for older people at the HSE in Dún Laoghaire, leads the Living Well with Dementia project in Stillorgan/Blackrock.
“It’s all about reconnecting people with their communities. People with dementia are still the same people with the same likes and interests that they always had,” says Hession. Finding someone to bring the person to bridge or golf can mean they continue to engage in the social activities they always enjoyed.