WORLD Alzheimer’s Month is an extremely valuable tool to help raise awareness of the disease, says the manager of a specialist care home.

Every September, the international Alzheimer’s campaign works to challenge the stigma that surrounds dementia.

And staff at Abbey House, a specialist dementia care home in Abbey Meads, have come out in support of the initiative, first launched in 2012.

Care home manager Sheila Jolly said: “For our staff and the families, it’s really important that we mark World Alzheimer’s Month each year. With an estimated 2,300 people over the age of 65 living with dementia in Swindon, it helps to raise awareness of the condition and gets people talking about how they can support those around them.

“It can be very lonely for carers supporting a loved one with Alzheimer’s so it’s a chance to help them not feel so alone and built community support around them.”

Abbey House, which specialises in providing both residential and nursing care for people across the dementia spectrum, last Thursday marked the occasion by inviting residents and their families to the home for a tea party that involved home-made cakes and a 1950s style dance.

Sheila said: “It’s so important that we engage with the family members of our residents, especially as caring for someone with Alzheimer’s is as much about supporting their family members too.”

Abbey House, which is equipped to care for 73 residents over three floors, also opened their doors to local residents and business owners to attend a Dementia Friends session run by Kinga Dabrowska, who works at the home and is a dementia champion.

The home often holds sessions to enable people to become‘dementia friends’.

Kinga said: “I wanted to mark the day by encouraging more people in our local community to become a dementia friend, to help raise awareness so that when our residents visit the local shops or go for walks, people have more understanding of the condition.”

The charity Alzheimer’s Disease International reports that two out of every three people globally believe there is little or no understanding of dementia in their countries.

A spokesman for the charity said: “The impact of World Alzheimer’s Month is growing, but the stigmatisation and misinformation that surrounds dementia remains a global problem that requires global action.”

This September was the sixth World Alzheimer’s Month, and it utilised the theme of ‘remember me’ to highlight the importance of early detection and diagnosis of dementia.

World Alzheimer’s Month has also been celebrated by Swindon Carers Centre, of which a number of carers assist someone with Alzheimer’s or dementia.

Fiona Prinzi, director of service development at Swindon Carers' Centre, said: “If people get a diagnosis of Alzheimer’s they will have been living with the disease for quite a while and will be in the process of coming to terms with it.

“World Alzheimer’s Month is very important because it enables those suffering with the disease, as well as those caring for someone with the disease, to access all the support they need and it keeps the issue on the agenda.”

Swindon Carers' Centre works in conjunction with GPs, hospitals and other medical professionals to ensure suitable care is in place for those who need it.