Monthly Dementia Action Days are taking information about dementia to the heart of communities across Gloucestershire in a bid to raise awareness.
NHS Gloucestershire’s Ageing Well Team are running events at different locations across the county with a Dementia Action Day planned for every month in 2025.
January’s event took place at The Eastgate Shopping Centre in Gloucester where around 35 people came forward to ask questions and talk about their experiences of dementia.
Conversations covered how to report concerns about memory and what support and services are available locally.
Dementia is a syndrome (a group of related symptoms) associated with an ongoing decline in brain function. There are many different causes of dementia and many different types.
In the UK, one in 11 people over the age of 65 have dementia and the number of people with dementia is increasing because people are living longer.
Mel Meller, Clinical Commissioning Manager for Dementia at NHS Gloucestershire said: “The action days provide an opportunity to go out and talk to people about issues relating to dementia.
“Some of the issues we discuss with people include diagnosis, prevention and access to support and services.
Talking about these themes generates conversation and we are able to answer questions for people.”
The team is due to visit Stroud on Wednesday February 12 outside Stroud Library.
The action day project is a partnership initiative with the Dementia Action Alliance, a Voluntary, Community and Social Enterprise (VCSE) group focused around making sure that people are able to enjoy living well and contributing to their communities as well as making communities more dementia friendly.
Mel added: “It’s also useful to be able to talk to people face to face about the things you can do to reduce your risk of developing dementia, things like keeping active, eating healthily and exercising your mind.
“When we talk about exercising your mind it’s about ensuring you have good social networks and are avoiding becoming isolated or lonely.”
Dementia risk is lowest in people who have healthy behaviours in mid-life (aged 40–65). While some factors for developing dementia can’t be changed, healthy lifestyles make it possible to reduce the likelihood of getting dementia by up to a third. This includes being physically active, eating a healthy diet and maintaining a healthy weight.
Factors such as, smoking, lack of exercise, obesity, depression, excessive alcohol consumption and low social contact can increase our risk of developing dementia.
Steve Shelley-King, Consultant Dementia Nurse and Dementia Clinical Lead at NHS Gloucestershire said:
“Community outreach is such an important part of our work and we’re glad to be able to meet people and respond to their questions and concerns at our action days.
“We want to make sure that people living with dementia and their carers get the right support and information and that anyone who thinks they might be experiencing symptoms can find out more in a supportive and reassuring environment.”