We are thrilled to announce that our Wellbeing Volunteers for Families living with Dementia Project is now LIVE!
We are over a month into the launch of our pilot Wellbeing Volunteers for Families living with Dementia Project. Caraway, Solent NHS and Admiral Nursing Service have come together to provide this much needed listening service. This exciting project checks on the wellbeing of the carers living with Dementia across Southampton.
Dementia in Southampton
Southampton is a city with 270,000 residents. There are about 500 families living with Dementia in various stages of the illness.
At diagnosis of Dementia there is support and advice, definition of the problem and initial clinical support. However, over time regular support from a specialist service for those living with Dementia decreases. At this point, support transfers to the Admiral Nursing Service. Admiral Nurses are specially trained in helping families and individuals cope when living with Dementia.
Dementia is a long-term illness, and volunteers provide support by contacting families regularly and detecting potential problems early. Early signposting or referral back to the Admiral Nurses often helps those on the Dementia journey.
The Admiral Nursing Service only offers this exciting new service to families not currently receiving active Admiral Nurse care. Our volunteers, support the Admiral Nurses work, by contacting consenting families living with Dementia to understand:
- how they are
- listen to them
- signpost, if required.
We are delighted to connect with so many families, many of whom are missing the contact they find when attending the Dementia Memory Café. Our volunteers offer a compassionate walking alongside someone on the Dementia journey and this is of great value to families living with Dementia.
During this initial Wellbeing Volunteers for Families living with Dementia pilot, 14 new volunteers are working with an initial 10 families living with Dementia and more are requesting to join. This is not a clinical service, just some ordinary people doing an amazing job of gifting their time to connect, listen and be there.
Take part in this project!
We have a fantastic small team of volunteers from across Southampton, which we are always looking to grow. If you are interested in becoming a Dementia Wellbeing Volunteer, we would love to chat! Please email us on caraway@caraway.uk.com.
This project is in association with…
