By Molly Bishop

 

Dunblane is celebrating becoming the first dementia-friendly town in the Stirling area.

The award was achieved by the community, with credit to the hard work of Dementia Friendly Dunblane, a hard-working volunteer group that made it their mission to achieve this dementia-friendly status for the last five years.

Provost Douglas Dodd was there to join the celebration and said: “It was a privilege to be part of these special celebrations in Dunblane and it was an extremely moving and uplifting event.

“On behalf of the people of Stirling, I would like to pass on my congratulations to the steering group and everyone involved in achieving Dementia Friendly town status.

“The fantastic work of the local community is making a real difference to people living with dementia in Dunblane and those who care for them.

“I would also like to pay tribute to all the volunteers who support the many activities that enable local people with dementia to live more independent lives and ensure they are understood, respected and supported.”

Dementia Friendly Dunblane (DFD) is a volunteer working group that came together in 2017. Their work includes vast research on how to better support people with dementia, but their most notable project is the dementia café.

The Braeport Memory Café is open to anyone in Dunblane who suffered from dementia to come along with their relatives/carers every Wednesday from 2-4 pm. The cafe specialises in specific activities, as well as talks from trained volunteers on how to better support people with dementia.

The café also incorporates an environment where carers and people with dementia can socialise and make friendships with one another.

Dementia Friendly Dunblane group says that their “aim is to support people living with dementia and their families/carers to feel included and remain part of the community not apart from it.

“We are working to achieve this aim through raising awareness of dementia to reduce stigma and provide education and advice to residents and businesses.”

According to Alzheimer’s Scotland, over 90,000 people have dementia. Dementia is not a natural part of the ageing process and there are many different variants of the disease.

By their definition, a dementia-friendly community is a community that wants to come together to make their area more welcoming for people living with the illness.

Motherwell was the first community to be named dementia friendly after it was targeted by the National Dementia Strategy Scotland.

This Strategy began back in 2010, with the aim to test ways of supporting communities in Scotland to become more dementia-friendly environments