The Largs ‘News’ team have joined the ‘dementia friends Scotland’ campaign in a bid to bring a higher profile to how best to cope with the brain disease.

Editor David Carnduff, sub-editor Kevin Dyson, and reporter Calum Corral received a dementia awareness training session provided by Alzheimer’s Scotland representative Kirsty Mann, who lives in Largs.

The five key messages given out at the awareness session was that - dementia is not a natural part of ageing, dementia is caused by brain diseases, dementia is not just about losing your memory, it is possible to live well with dementia, and there is more to the person than the dementia.

With Largs being named the North Ayrshire capital for dementia, and new units to be built at Haylie House, and a day centre at the former Stevenson Institute building in the town, it is becoming increasingly important to face up to the facts of the issue. The ‘News’ is also hoping to step up its campaign for dementia awareness with Kirsty set to be a regular columnist in our paper.

Kirsty said: “I think that the demographics for Largs strongly back the need for the people having a greater awareness and understanding of the impact dementia has not just on the individual but the families, and the neighbours and carers around the person.

“We also need to understand a bit more that it is not just a natural part of growing old, and there are more people under the age of 65 who are getting diagnosed, so people need a better acceptance of understanding the impact of day to day living with dementia.

“Nobody has the same symptoms but it is important to understand that people may struggle to perceive the simplest thing like a floormat when entering a shop or a business, people might think it is a gap in the flooring, it might look unsafe, so people need to have patience.

“Perhaps people living with dementia might have handed over the wrong money, too much money perhaps, when paying their bill, trying to establish the right numbers - that takes time for people, and others need to be patient if they are waiting in a queue for instance.” Kirsty is available to provide dementia awareness classes to local groups, shops and businesses, and will be helping with Largs Academy’s dementia awareness week which is happening in June.

Kirsty is urging shops in Largs and other towns to ‘go purple’ to show their support for dementia, with Alzheimer Scotland balloons in their premises to support the initiative. For more details about becoming a dementia friend, contact Kirsty Mann kmann@Alzscot.org She added that there are over 100 different types of dementia, and it was important to say that it is still possible to ‘live well with dementia’.

One of the key messages that Dementia Friends Scotland wants to put forward is that people with dementia may still be able to work, drive, and have relationships.What they can do, and how long they can do it for will dpend on their particular circumstnaces.

Kirsty, who lives in Holehouse Road, explained: “We’re not saying that dementia doesn’t bring challenges, but depsite these challenges, it is still possible to live well with dementia.” The statistics for North Ayrshire as of 2014 are: Under 65 = 85 people with dementia; over 65 =2,320 with dementia; total for the area 2,404.

Watch an interview with Kirsty Mann below...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YlqVGNuM5lA