I recently attended a Dementia Awareness training day with Stirling University; and it proved a real eye-opener for me.
We started with a video of life through the eyes of a dementia sufferer. What struck me was that dementia has a profound effect not just on the individual concerned, but their family members too who have to do a lot of extra caring.
It showed just how scared and upset someone with dementia can feel when they become confused. When what they perceive in their head does not match the reality of a particular scenario, including trying to figure out an energy bill.
The training helped us identify triggers that may cause distress to someone with dementia - such as a loud noise or shouting. It could even be something apparently innocuous like the pattern of the carpet, the colour of a door or a distinct smell.
We were also given tips on how to help someone who has become upset. These included keeping a calm and friendly voice and avoiding shouting if you get asked to repeat something. The person may be able to hear you, but it just takes more time to process the information, so keeping things simple was the message here.
Our team will really benefit from the training. We come into contact with people who suffer from dementia on a fairly regular basis and it can be hard to comfort a customer who you can’t see on the other end of a phone line.
We took part in activities to help us understand how frustrating everyday activities can be for a dementia sufferer. For example, someone with dementia will not see the pages of a newspaper or book the same way as before - the pages become muddled, numbers appear upside down, and some words will look back to front.
After completing the training we as the Priority Assistance Team decided to design a dementia-friendly application form. This will be in a bright colour, contain clear large print and minimal questions with easy boxes to be ticked.
We need to remember that someone with dementia is the same person underneath – it’s just some of their knowledge and experience of their lifetime has faded away, especially of recent things.
If we really want to look after our customers properly then we have to understand all their needs properly.
Elaine Mathews - SSE's Priority Assistance Team.