We held a public meeting in Frome last night to help foment discussion about dementia care and research. We have a similar meeting arranged for this evening in Salisbury.
It really was great to see so many people there. We were hastily raiding the chair store five minutes before the start, because it was obvious that we had underestimated the turnout. A couple of BRACE-supported scientists gave excellent presentations and there was a presentation about care home design from the CEO of Gracewell Healthcare.
The other contributor was Beth Britton, a blogger from Oxfordshire, who will be with us again in Salisbury. We have been in contact with Beth for months and it was a pleasure to meet her at last. I think everyone at the meeting admired her bravery in standing up to talk about the still recent loss of her father to vascular dementia and the 19 years that she and her family spent caring for him as the illness took its inexorable toll.
Beth’s passion for the cause is beyond doubt. She is well placed to articulate the way many families feel, including anger at the poor standards of care to which patients are so often subjected. The response she received from members of the audience showed that her words had resonated with others facing similar challenges.
Beth writes a great campaigning blog called D4Dementia and I recommend it to anyone who feels strongly about dementia.
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