Dementia Friends training for Arctic Corsair volunteers

Dementia Friends is the biggest ever initiative to transform how people think, acts and talks about dementia.

The training delivered by the Alzheimer’s Society improves the knowledge and understanding of dementia; the signs and symptoms and how to build positive relationships with people affected by dementia.

The volunteers pledged to become a Dementia Friend - Becoming a Dementia Friend simply means finding out more about how dementia affects a person – and then, armed with this understanding, doing small everyday things that help.

Later this year, the Arctic Corsair volunteers and the Hull Maritime project team will run a regular programme of reminiscence events at the Extra Care facilities at Redwood Glades. The sessions will include handling artefacts from the Maritime Museum’s handling collections with residents and sharing memories about the city’s seafaring past.

Trevor Evans, Arctic Corsair volunteer attended the training this morning, said: “It was an extremely interesting and informative session.

“We all learnt a lot about dementia as well as sharing stories. It is especially important as we’re all affected, with friends and family living with the disease. I took a great deal from it and now have a greater of understanding of how we can help and make a difference.”

Nikki Moses from the Alzheimer’s Society, delivered the training, she said: “Alzheimer’s Society would like to thank Hull City Council and the team at the Museums for inviting us to deliver the dementia friends information session and applaud them and the volunteers for the work they are doing.

“Alzheimer’s Society are aiming to create a Dementia Friendly society which are inclusive of people living with dementia, We reached our original target of one million Dementia Friends in February 2015 and we passed the three million milestone in September 2019 and with the continued support like yours, we will be able to achieve our goal.”