A dementia friendly community is a place where you, as a person living with dementia, are understood, respected, and supported. This may be a town, city, or village. It involves people in that community proactively learning more about dementia, the signs and symptoms and the best ways to interact with you. It also involves members of the community having an awareness of the impact an environment can have on people living with dementia and a willingness to make changes, so it becomes more dementia friendly.
In this YouTube video Karen Wood, Dementia Friendly Aberdeenshire Project Officer, discusses the importance of dementia friendly communities:
(What is a dementia Friendly Community? 1:44 minutes)
A dementia friendly community should reflect what people living with dementia want to see in their own community. There is no ‘one size fits all’ template.
If you are, or know of, a local business or community group looking to become more dementia friendly information and advice is available on the Alzheimer’s Society website.
The Dementia Engagement and Empowerment Project (DEEP)’s guide Involving people with dementia in creating dementia friendly communities (pdf) has more information about shaping dementia friendly communities.
Dementia friendly initiatives
Aberdeenshire Council has supported projects to encourage dementia friendly initiatives. The ‘Dementia Friendly Aberdeenshire’ project educated and supported local communities to make Aberdeenshire dementia friendly.
In this YouTube video La-Vonne Sim, Dementia Friendly Aberdeenshire Project Officer, talks about some of the practical changes one local business made to become more dementia friendly:
(A walk through the shop, 4:51 minutes)