Our day of help and support wins praise from carers

Home news

Jul 19, 2013

This week we held a special event to give practical advice and support to people in the local community caring for loved ones with dementia and we were delighted at how much they felt the day had helped.

Our Customer Relations Manager Kia Mathieson worked with Care UK’s Head of Dementia Services to create the afternoon which included lunch, a talk from residents’ relatives and a question and answer session.

Kia said: “I did not tell people until the end, but I cared for my mother, who had vascular dementia. I understand that people experience things and think they are alone in the experience. I understand that people feel terrible guilt when the time comes that their loved one needs the extra support of residential care, but they shouldn’t.

“We were lucky to have two wonderful speakers, relatives of Care UK residents, who spoke about how they had felt and how they had come to realise that, as dementia progresses, residential care is the best thing for their loved one.”

Maizie Mears-Owens was able to give lots of reassurance and practical suggestions to the audience as well as answering specific questions and answering individual questions. She also demonstrated how people with dementia cannot process different noises at one time, leading to confusion and frustration.

Kia said: “We were delighted to read the feedback cards. Our visitors said they were very happy with the advice they had received and greatly welcomed the opportunity to share their experiences with others who understood.”

We hope to run another event in November and will keep you informed through this site.