1st May 2020

Alzheimer’s Support is resuming home visits to people living with dementia in Wiltshire next week. 

The charity, which stopped visits to all but the most vulnerable during lockdown, says good supplies of personal protective equipment and the worsening situation for many families, mean that resuming the one-to-one visits for those that want them is now the right thing to do.

Alzheimer’s Support staff have been keeping in close touch by phone with everyone who uses its services in Wiltshire, making around 800 calls a week since lockdown started. 

CEO Babs Harris said: “Everyone has been incredibly stoical and many have coped well, but it has been heartbreaking to hear how some people living with dementia have deteriorated in these few short weeks and how husbands and wives, themselves often elderly, are becoming desperate for a break. The people we support rely on us for social interaction, practical advice and emotional support and we need to get back to work for them.

“Now that we have secure supplies of PPE we can do that safely.

“We are bringing people out of furlough to resume their essential work and from Monday more than half of our 68 support workers will be working again. I am so proud of our staff who are overcoming some personal fears but determined to get back to work and make a difference.”

Award-winning service

Alzheimer’s Support’s Home Support service offers carefully customized one-to-one companionship in visits that normally last two or three hours. In 2017 the service, which is used by just under 300 families in Wiltshire, was named Best Team at the national Dementia Care Awards.

The charity’s telephone support service, launched in March in response to lockdown, is continuing for everyone who normally comes to its day clubs and community groups, and some Home Support clients.

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