Tuesday 12th was a great day for entertainment. We had the first visit of the delightful Jamie Steen.
He delivered a variety of popular songs in a dazzling series of costumes.
Our audience loved his performance – they were singing an dancing as usual – and we have booked him again!
Everyone will just have enough time to get their breath back before he returns on 24th July.
A busy month!
We ran three Friendship Groups in May. Young Tony came along to sing to us as usual. Janet started a new seated exercise session, which was very popular indeed – more of these to come. We had the usual quizzes, aqua painting, dominoes and lots more.
Our regular monthly evening Carers’ Group had us talking about the issues of the day for carers. There was a lot of discussion on how to safely plan a trip away for elderly people who have memory and other issues. As ever the group was mutually supportive and came up with many ideas.
Janet and I spent two days at Oxleas early in the month. The first day was an awareness event, where we had the opportunity to speak to a variety of people with a recent diagnosis and their carers. The second was a chance for us to meet the latest Cognitive Stimulation Therapy (CST) group, have a chat, and invite them to move on to out Friendship Group.
Over five days I addended an introduction course, then started as an “apprentice”, as part of the latest Remembering Yesterday Caring Today (RYCT) group in Woolwich. For more information on the 10/12 weekly themed reminiscence sessions see the comprehensive web site here.
Towards the end of the month I was very pleased to run my 33rd Dementia Friends session. Thanks to Bob the (website) builder for arranging the event. I have now presented to over 700 people as my contribution to the 2.5 million Dementia Friends. If you want to know more about Dementia Friends, please contact me or visit here.
Janet and I then attended the innovative Dementia Action Week event in Woolwich library on the 24th. Angelika had set up a Dementia friendly Street with the help of Richard and the other library staff. The “street” included businesses and services across the borough which have received recognition for being dementia inclusive. There is more about what Greenwich is doing to become a dementia friendly Borough here.
Finally we popped along to the Park Avenue Care home on two days, to sample their entertainment. We were so impressed by one of the singers, Jamie Steen, that we booked him on the spot to perform at our Friendship group. More about Jamie here.
Enjoy the sunshine.
Another fun afternoon. The sun was shining and a packed room enjoyed Tony’s sing-a-long. He is always popular and there was lots of singing and dancing.
We also launched a guided seated exercise session in our activity room. It was lovely to see that most of the group wanted to join in. As it was popular, we will run it again next time on 1 May.
A week for practicing for the knitathon at Mycenae House (this Thursday 10am-1pm see website here), aqua-painting, dominoes and… balloons. Room1 resounded to the sound of people enjoying themselves, hitting balloons with fly swatters, and causing not a few loud bangs when the balloons exploded. Great fun!
Later we had a sing-a-long to classics by Black Lace and a brave attempt to copy the actions for The Court of King Caractacus. Hectic and exhausting… more next time.
We had a mix of some of our favourite activities today, including archery
and singing – Agadoo was popular with most of the group…
The quizzes went well too. Here are a few questions from the March quiz.
All the answers start with the letters MAR:
Questions from the excellent Golden Carers website
We had our first experience of the new Shrewsbury House cafe today, nice sofa! It is well with a visit, if you happen to be at the top of Shooters Hill SE18.
For info.:
Reflections have just registered with The Small Charities Coalition [thanks for the pointer Deb]. They “help small charities [like us] access the skills, tools and information they need to develop and work effectively”. Their web site is here.
We are also in the process of registering with The National Council for Voluntary Organisations (NCVO). They “champion the voluntary sector by connecting, representing and supporting voluntary organisations”. Their web site is here.
Another packed day at the Reflections group. Tony sang, with the help of everyone in the room. There was a lot of dancing and not a little fun.
We are all looking forward to the Shrewsbury House cafe reopening at the beginning off March. For group members this should mean we can have lunch, or a snack, at the cafe before the group – and all at reasonable prices in pleasant surroundings.
A lovely afternoon with 22 “friends”. A chance to play dominoes, join-in quizzes and reminisce about conkers and marvel at their beauty.
We were pleased to welcome back Tony, who is always popular.
He had an audience of 32 friends, who joined in with singing and dancing.
The quizzes are proving a big hit, encouraging table discussion, so we plan to include a few of these each time.
Another lovely afternoon with 28 friends coming along.
Thank you to Angelika, of Dementia Dialogue, who kindly came along to host a knitting session and provided the needles and wool. People had the opportunity to knit a memory purse, to contain a strip of paper with their happy memory written on it. Some lovely purses were made.
Thanks again to Marc (nice shirt!) for once again providing a great archery session, perhaps for the last time, as he hopes to take up a full-time job soon. You’re welcome back anytime, if you have a spare afternoon.
We also had time for a sing-song and some quizzes.
See you next time,
15th to 21st May 2017 is Dementia Awareness week.
The Royal Borough of Greenwich are holding a Dementia Awareness Event tomorrow Wednesday 17th May between 1.30pm and 5pm at:
The Stables, 76 Hornfair Road, Charlton, SE7 7BD.
Come along where you can find out about local dementia services and perhaps take part in the interactive sessions being provided. We are pleased to say we are taking part in this community event.
As well as talking to people about our groups we want to take the opportunity to talk about Hospital Admissions and John’s Campaign. All the NHS Trusts running local hospitals have signed up to be part of it.
So what is John’s campaign? John’s Campaign is :
“for the right of people with dementia to be supported by their family carers”
John’s Campaign was founded in November 2014 by Nicci Gerrard and Julia Jones. The Campaign is named after Dr John Gerrard, who died in November 2014 after a catastrophic stay in hospital.
Behind its simple statement of purpose lies the belief that carers should not just be allowed but should be welcomed, and that a collaboration between the patients and all connected with them is crucial to their health and their well-being. John’s Campaign applies to all hospital settings: acute, community, mental health and its principles could extend to all other caring institutions where people are living away from those closest to them.
In the time since the campaign was founded, over 1000 institutions have pledged support and a lot of progress has been made – but there is a lot yet to be done.
For their advice for carers see here. For more information about John’s Campaign see here
Hospital Statistics
The Alzheimer’s Society produced statistics in their 2009 report “Counting the Cost: caring for people with dementia on hospital wards:
Tips to manage the patient experience
Important – Do not rely on the ward nurses to pass on any messages. They are extremely busy and they may accidentally forget to pass on your message. Following the tips above may help prevent you from becoming stressed and feeling you are not being heard.
Also – If you are the main carer, have you given any thought as to what will happen if you become ill or need to go into hospital? Giving some thought to this now may help to give you peace of mind should this happen.
Reflections 