Minister commends Western Alzheimers' befriending service
THE Minister for Health, Stephen Donnelly, has commended an initiative by Western Alzheimers to offer a befriending service for people with dementia.
Fifty-three volunteer befrienders have supported 47 families over a two-year period.
The service seeks to match a volunteer befriender with a person with dementia in order to provide support and companionship. People living with dementia in Roscommon, Galway and Mayo who participated in the service experienced improved physical and mental wellbeing as a result of the companionship they received.
Speaking about the service, Minister Donnelly stated: “On World Alzheimer’s Day, it is wonderful to celebrate an initiative which has improved the wellbeing of people living with Alzheimer’s disease in Ireland. For people living with dementia, it is so important that they feel connected with their community, but equally that this community connection continues, and results in reduced stigma around the disease.
“I’d like to commend Western Alzheimers on their project and all the volunteer befrienders who have so improved the quality of life of people living with dementia in the region by simply extending their companionship.
“This befriending service is embedded within an innovative model of care; a model which emphasises integrated care and the shift of care to the community where the patient is at the centre of service design and delivery. This is just one example of innovative thinking and change seen through the Sláintecare Integration Fund.”
Rita, a family carer from Mayo, whose mother Sheila used the befriending service following a diagnosis of dementia, said: “My mum was losing her confidence and getting withdrawn. I also was struggling to get a break from caring for two parents and my own children.
“Since getting her befriender my mum is like a new person, she is so much happier. She is getting out of house, getting to go on walks and to visit places she likes.
“It keeps her fit both mentally and physically. It sets her up for the day and gives me her carer a break.”
Western Alzheimers recruited 58 potential volunteer befrienders through a targeted advertising campaign in Galway, Mayo and Roscommon. Fifty-three completed training and have supported 47 families across the west.
The volunteer befriender typically spent two to three hours every week in the family home and so facilitates the primary carer to take a break.
Feedback shows that satisfaction with the service is very high.
Western Alzheimers’ befriending service was funded through the Sláintecare Integration Fund and has been mainstreamed to receive recurring funding annually.