Supporting Local Dementia Charity

Last week I had the pleasure of visiting Make Memories Matter, which is a charity that hold a weekly day centre for people with dementia at Avonway Community Centre in Fordingbridge, just down the road from us in Ringwood.  Louise and her team meet there on a Friday and they have clients with dementia visiting them, the main purpose to give a much-needed break for their Carers, who are of course their close family members.  When I visited there were a variety of activities going on, including pottery and darts, there was a truly lovely, friendly and fun atmosphere.

Make Memories Matter are a not-for-profit organisation and are holding a walk on Saturday 26th April to raise much needed funds for their charity.  Make Memories Matter offer vital respite from the challenge of living with someone who suffers with dementia, so Oak Mount Care Home has agreed to sponsor the walk to help support this essential service. I know that they would be ever so grateful of any other sponsorship, no matter how small, to help them to carry on their important work. For more information on how to sponsor them, you can donate here at their GoFundMe page, please remember to claim Gift Aid if you are eligible.

At Oak Mount Care Home we offer a different kind of respite service, where residents can come and stay with us for a mini-break of two weeks or more.  Louise mentioned that often families living with dementia only want a one-week respite stay, however the problem we have is there is so much work involved in the initial stay, that it doesn’t work for a short, first respite stay.  Having said that, after the first mini-holiday at Oak Mount, then, as a lot of the work is already done (Ie Care plans and risk assessments are largely already in place), then we can look at booking in for shorter, week-long stays down the line.