Growing Old Grace-fully were so pleased to be invited to an event at Leeds Irish Centre by Leeds Irish Health & Homes, to hear the findings of some recent research into memory loss and the needs of the Irish community.
One of the findings of this research that struck home with me was the importance of being with people who understand our culture when we are living with dementia; people who speak our language either literally or figuratively speaking. A friend told me that dementia took away her Polish-born mum’s ability to speak English, even though she was a fluent English speaker for 50 years, but her mum could still speak Polish.
You can read more about the event here http://www.lihh.org/memory-loss-and-the-irish-community-the-report-from-our-launch-event
Being with people who understand our culture is part of feeling we belong. It’s why we need to work hard to ensure that people who have been part of the parish life do not feel excluded if they develop dementia. Please think about whether your parish could run a short session on Becoming a Dementia-Friendly Parish which Growing Old Grace-fully would be delighted to run.
Rachel Walker