Select a region
With the number of islanders affected by dementia, a local charity is hoping to find new premises to host its growing team as well as the therapeutic activities it provides to a growing number of people.
Dementia Jersey supports islanders affected by dementia as well as their families.
They have also been campaigning to make Jersey more “dementia-friendly” and for a dementia strategy to be established as the number of islanders diagnosed with dementia keeps growing.
Pictured: Claudine Snape is the CEO for Dementia Jersey.
In 2022, the team hopes to find a new home to help meet this growing demand as CEO Claudine Snape explained...
"Currently there are around 1,600 people living in Jersey affected by dementia, but within 15 years, cases on the island are expected to double and one in five of the population in Jersey will be aged 65 or over.
People with dementia have also been disproportionately affected by the pandemic as isolation and suspended services have often meant rapid decline. The shortage in care home staff and day care options and the long wait for appointments have all together meant that demand for our services doubled in 2021. This is across the board, from therapeutic activities to one-on-one support from our dementia advisors.
Pictured: Dementia Jersey wants to host its therapeutic activities, including its arts group, in the new premises.
We believe that the impact of backlogs in public services will be felt for years to come and combined with our higher brand profile means we’ll continue to see increased demand. As a result we need to grow the charity to meet the needs of a growing number of people with dementia and their families.
Top of the priority list is moving to new, more spacious premises which will allow us to see more than one client at a time. It’s crucial we have multiple accessible but confidential spaces where our Dementia Advisors can sit down face to face with families and people with dementia to give support.
We’d also like to be able to host our therapeutic activities from our premises too, like our art group for example, as well as run community events.
We’ve recently expanded the number of staff so need more desk space too.
Overall, we’re looking for a 3,000 ft multi-purpose ground floor space which could be used for meeting rooms, offices, storage and community spaces from which to offer services."
For more information about the work of Dementia Jersey, you can visit their website https://dementia.je/, email info@dementia.je or call the office on 01534 723519.
Comments
Comments on this story express the views of the commentator only, not Bailiwick Publishing. We are unable to guarantee the accuracy of any of those comments.