Today marks World Alzheimer's Day, with Southampton Football Club collaborating with the Alzheimer's Society to provide Dementia Friends training to staff over the next few months.
This annual awareness campaign aims to highlight the importance of talking about dementia and how it impacts the daily lives of people and their families affected by the condition while also challenging the stigma that surrounds it.
As part of the awareness campaign, we’ll be running a series of virtual dementia friends training sessions provided by the Alzheimer’s Society for our staff.
In addition, Over the last few months we’ve been asking our staff to take a couple of minutes to complete a short training module to become a dementia friend, as part of the commitment to make St Mary's a dementia friendly stadium.
To find out more about becoming a dementia friend, please click here.
In the know…
Here are some of the key facts about dementia provided by the Alzheimer’s Society.
• The Alzheimer's Society is the UK's leading dementia charity. They provide information and support, fund research, campaign to improve care and create lasting change for people affected by the condition in England, Wales and Northern Ireland.
• Research by the Alzheimer’s Society shows that 850,000 people in the UK have a form of dementia.
• Dementia deaths are rising year on year and 225,000 will develop dementia this year - that’s one every three minutes.
• Dementia costs the UK economy over £26 billion per year. This is the equivalent of more than £30,000 per person with dementia.
• The Alzheimer’s Society funds research into the cause, care, cure and prevention of all types of dementia, committing to spend at least £100million on research over the next decade, and is a founding partner of the UK Dementia Research Institute.
Get an insight…
A lot of people affected feel society fails to understand the condition they live with, so the Alzheimer’s Society offers support and help to families and loved ones that need it.
Their initiative Dementia Friends enables individuals to help by raising awareness through training and aids understanding so people living with the condition can continue to live in a supported way.
Dementia Friends can also get involved with things like volunteering, fundraising, campaigning or simply just wearing a badge to raise awareness too.
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