Free dementia training classes now offered to all staff and students at De Montfort University Leicester (DMU) have been ‘inspirational’ for a finance worker who was signed off with the stress of looking after her father, diagnosed with the condition.
Julie Nutting helps care for her father Richard who lives alone and was diagnosed with dementia in November, after developing worsening symptoms over the past few years.
Juggling her work as a finance administrator at DMU and her home life, Julie said she no longer had any real free time, dedicating her life outside work to visiting the 79-year-old and arranging his care.
She said: “He’ll call me 15 or 20 times a day. It could just be to say hello but he’ll have forgotten that he did exactly that 10 minutes before.
“He’s been living alone since mum died so I visit often. But it’s hard to get him interested in anything. We’ve tried puzzles, books and so on but it’s not easy.
“The hardest thing is not getting cross. He can be so difficult and aggressive and you can feel yourself getting angry but you have to remember that he can’t help it.”
But Julie found unexpected support and guidance – and saw she was far from alone, even among staff at DMU - by attending the university’s new dementia training sessions.
In a project led by senior lecturer Chris Knifton, who is also one of the few specially trained Dementia UK Admiral Nurses, DMU has embraced the Government’s drive for the UK to be the most dementia-friendly country in the world by 2020, introducing a series of specifically-designed training sessions open to all staff and students at the university, giving them practical advice and support in caring for someone with dementia.
The three-hour sessions, developed by Chris and held three times a month, are run in conjunction with DMU Square Mile, which works to share the expertise of students and staff with the community.
During the classes, attendees learn about the condition and take part in a series of creative exercises which will give them a personal understanding of what life is like for people with dementia symptoms, what kinds of challenges they face and how they might experience different environments and social situations.
The sessions will encourage staff and students to consider how they can use their skills, experience and knowledge to help raise awareness of dementia and help people with the condition. Those who complete the course will be certified as Dementia Ambassadors, taking their new knowledge into their lives ahead.
Chris, in his role as Admiral Nurse, also plans to offer one-to-one support to members of staff and students within the university who have a caring role for people with dementia.
Julie said: “I met so many people who I had no idea were going through the same thing as me. Just to know they are there, to be able to talk about what we are experiencing, is so helpful.
“What Chris taught us was good, practical advice Not just about dementia and what it does, but how to interact, what support is on offer from organisations like Dementia UK – these are very helpful things which many people are just not aware of.
“Some of the things Chris talked about – like validating what my dad is saying, what he believes his situation to be right there and then – is already so helpful.”
Chris Knifton said: “Dementia is one of the biggest health problems we face in this country and it is a problem which is only getting bigger.
“The best thing we can do is to learn about the condition, to understand it and overcome the fear of it. Almost all of us will have experience of dementia in our lives, either ourselves or in someone we know.
“As a university, our biggest role is that of an educator and so it is only right that we do all we can to help raise awareness of dementia for all our students, staff and the wider community.”
Posted on Friday 15 April 2016