Dementia Friends Champion Alastair Shanks reaches 1,000 Dementia Friends
Published: 15/03/2019
Award-winning home care provider Right at Home GF is celebrating its recruitment of more than 1,000 Dementia Friends.
Managing Director Alastair Shanks first trained to be a Dementia Friends Champion in March 2013 and has since delivered an impressive 89 training sessions during this time.
Dementia Friends is an Alzheimer’s Society initiative, where Champions volunteer to encourage others to make a positive difference to people living with dementia in their community. They do this by giving them information about the personal impact of dementia, and what they can do to help.
Alastair’s most recent training session took place at Spire Church in Farnham with 25 people in attendance including volunteers from the church and local charity, Farnham Assist. The session brought Alastair’s total number of Dementia Friends to 1,023.
Alastair has trained local groups including schools, Farnham Town Council, Citizens Advice Bureau, a GP surgery, a local hospital, Farnham Maltings, as well as every new business owner who joins the Right at Home franchise.
Right at Home GF provides high quality care and support to adults living in the comfort of their own homes across Guildford, Farnham, Fleet, Farnborough and Aldershot. It offers a range of services, including personal care and hospital-to-home through to full time live-in care and specialist dementia care.
Speaking on the training sessions, Alastair said: “As a care provider which supports clients living with dementia, we know how important it is to provide others with a better understanding of what living with dementia is like.
“It’s been fantastic to see so many people attending these sessions and I’m determined to continue playing my part in helping create a dementia friendly community by providing these training sessions regularly.”
The sessions run by Alastair are free to attend and last around an hour. To find out more about the Dementia Friends sessions and when the next session is taking place, see our list of community events or contact the Right at Home GF office on 01252 783426.
