Speaker Meeting with partners, 6.45 for 7pm
Mon, Oct 29th 2018 at 6:45 pm - 9:45 pm
In the picture are just 4 of the 2.5 million Dementia Friends in England and Wales. Seated are Club President Ann with Elaine and standing behind them are Club member Terry Williams and Kevin O’Donoghue (on the right).
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Kevin and Elaine are Dementia Friends Champions. Dementia Friends Champions are trained volunteers who encourage others to learn a little bit about dementia. They run Information Sessions in their community and inspire others to help those living with dementia to live well.
It shouldn’t be, but unfortunately the word dementia conjures up negative thoughts in peoples’ minds and with it a certain stigma. One of the aims of Dementia Friends is to remove such things and to encourage more positive thoughts.
Rather than saying “someone is suffering from dementia” we should say “someone is living with dementia.” It’s a disease, like any other, but unfortunately we tend to see the disease before the person. It’s different for example when someone has cancer. We see the person before the disease.
Kevin and Elaine gave us an interactive Dementia Friends Information Session. Friends Information Sessions are an Alzheimer’s Society initiative to help people understand what it's like to live with dementia and the actions they can take.
Some key points they made were:
Dementia, a disease of the brain, is NOT a natural part of ageing
It IS possible to live well with dementia
There’s more to the person than the dementia
People with dementia can still communicate effectively
Alzheimer’s disease is only ONE type of dementia
Dementia is not just about losing your memory
And finally, Dementia Friends is all about turning understanding into action.
Rotarian Terry Williams proposed a vote of thanks to Kevin and Elaine.
'What We Do' Main Pages:
Will you join our 250-Club lottery? We have run it for more than 25 years and in that time it has raised tens of thousands of Pounds for charity
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Rotary is one of the largest and most successful global membership and humanitarian service organisations in the world. It has 1.4 million members in over 200 countries.
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We make another donation to the charity which provides emergency shelter and assistance when disasters strike
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A Partner Club is a Rotary club that supports ShelterBox's work in disaster relief by donating over £2,000 in a Rotary year
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Rotary’s second major donation, of £208,000, was handed over on 7th July 2021 when local Rotarians visited the Great Western Hospital to view the build progress of the nearly completed radiotherapy unit.
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Brighter Futures launched their Radiotherapy Appeal in 2015. Today, 7 years later, a ribbon cutting ceremony has taken place at the Great Western Hospital
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Rotarian Terry Williams' remarkable and unique fund raising effort, living in a ShelterBox emergency tent for a week in the Market Place, Highworth
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