Dementia Friendly Community Workshop on Rathlin

Thursday 29 June 2017

The Richard Branson Centre was packed with over twenty members of the Rathlin community attending a Dementia Friendly Community Workshop on the morning of Tuesday 27th June. The workshop was given by Aoife McMasters, the Dementia Support Worker for the Causeway area, and those attending included island residents in a personal capacity, representatives of the Rathlin Development & Community Association, Rathlin Island Ferry Ltd and island businesses such as McCuaig's Bar, as well as the island's Floating Support workers Margaret and Shauna, the island nurses Patricia and Keira, Homecare Workers and staff from the Northern Health and Social Care Trust. The workshop was also given in the afternoon for the Tuesday Club.

The aim of the workshop was to equip people with knowledge and skills to deal more effectively with people living with various forms of dementia, and is part of a programme of creating Dementia Friendly Communities by the Alzheimers Society. If Rathlin is confirmed in achieving this status, it will be the first island Dementia Friendly Community in the UK. Many thanks to Aoife for coming over to Rathlin to provide this valuable support, to Shauna and Margaret for organising the event, and to everyone from the community and beyond who took the time to attend and support the initiative.