The Alzheimer Society of Ireland reports on the new “Dementia: Understand Together” campaign launched by the Health Service Executive of Ireland. This is a public support, awareness and information campaign, aimed at inspiring people from all sections of society, to stand together with the half a million people in Ireland, whose families have been affected by dementia: To date, over 250 Community Champions have joined this network of volunteers, bringing people in their communities together and inspiring them to take action to make communities more inclusive for people with dementia. Such actions include hosting information evenings for the public; encouraging businesses to review their services; or starting local support groups.
To help grow and support this Community Champions’ network, the campaign hosted the first two days in a series of Community Champion Cafés to be held across Ireland, with workshops on “Dementia Awareness” and “Social and local media” workshops. Both days were a great success as champions met one another and shared their experiences. The Champions told many stories and highlighted the numerous activities happening in their communities. Various forms of social and local media were explored, which can help spread the network and inspire people to join the campaign and take action for dementia, such as, parish newsletters, notice boards, community Facebook pages, libraries, radio stations and more.
Find out more about the campaign at: http://www.understandtogether.ie/get-involved/
