An independent charity providing practical services to people living at home with dementia and to their family carers. We provide services to people with or without a diagnosis of dementia.
Call 01225 776481 or complete a referral form.
We employ more than 40 trained support workers who spend time with the person with dementia at home or out and about in the community.
Call 01225 776481 or complete a referral form.
Our day clubs provide companionship, social stimulation and a break for carers. Our four clubs offer activities and enjoyment across seven days each week.
Call 01225 776481 or complete a referral form.
Singing for the Brain groups, Alzheimer cafés and our new Movement for the Mind group provide activities for family members to enjoy together.
Call 01225 776481 or complete a referral form.
press release - December 4 2011
REMINISCENCE work has taken on a new dimension at a Wiltshire day club, thanks new technology.
Independent charity Alzheimer’s Support bought iPads for each of its day clubs thanks to a grant from the Social Care Insitute for Excellence’s Get Connected programme.
Grant Newton, manager of the Sidmouth Club in Devizes, said: “The best thing about the iPads is they don’t look like computers, with lots of buttons to press. Using a touchscreen seems to come naturally to people. It just looks like a picture frame and people don’t question how it works.”
He said the equipment enabled reminiscence work with individuals.
“We can go on Google Street-View and find images of where someone was born. Even if we can’t find the actual house they usually recognise the village pub, or the church where they got married.
“We have one gentleman who used to write books so we looked him up on the Amazon website and he was astonished to find his books all there, with reviews too.”
Another member who had served in the WRAF during the Second World War enjoyed looking up pictures of WRAF uniforms of the times. And she was thrilled to find a 1940s photo of her husband in his Spitfire pilot’s uniform.
The iPads are also useful for finding information and pictures to support current hobbies and interests, favourite music and television programmes from the past.
Get Connected also provided funds for a laptop for each club, as well as laptops for the Carers’ Computer Club, which was runner up in the category Improving Life for Carers at Wiltshire Council’s voluntary sector awards in October.
Case study
Staff at Sidmouth Club had never found out much about 95-year-old Jack Endersby’s early life, other than that he was from Leeds.
All that changed one day when he was looking at the Ipad with a volunteer. “They started looking at general shots of Leeds,” said Grant. “Jack saw places that were familiar to him and soon found the area where he lived as a child.
“He saw his old street and remembered the number so we found the house. Then he found another street where he had lived. It was quite a moment.
“The iPad works brilliantly in a situation like that because it is so immediate and so visual.”
We rely on donations to fund our work. This year we need to raise £236,000 to maintain our services
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