Pledge to make Norfolk businesses more dementia friendly
A project to make Norfolk the first dementia friendly county in the country has received a boost with the support from a number of major employers.
Wednesday, October 1, 2014
6:16 PM
A business breakfast was held in Norwich today, which was organised by the Norfolk and Suffolk Dementia Alliance, to explore ways of making local businesses more supportive towards people with dementia and their carers.
The meeting included representatives from Aviva, the East of England Co-op, Kettle Chips, Bernard Matthews, First Eastern Counties buses and was also attended by Norman Lamb, North Norfolk MP and government care minister.
Willie Cruickshank, director of the dementia alliance, said it was a very positive summit.
“Thirty percent of those around the table had direct contact with people with dementia. There is no reason why Norfolk can not be leading the country here and we need to keep driving it forward.
“It is great doing geographic dementia communities, but we want to keep working with the business community,” he said.
First Eastern Counties has already signed up to training all its drivers to be dementia aware and Aviva has also pledged to train all of its staff to become dementia aware.
Dealing with dementia was also the subject of the Norwich Older People’s Forum AGM today, which included talks from William Armstrong, Sheriff of Norwich and chairman of Healthwatch Norfolk, and Mr Cruickshank.
