Question: What makes Catford South so special?

Answer: You!

Catford South’s Local Assembly are thrilled to let you know that your community is now taking the first steps to becoming the first fully accredited Dementia Friendly Community in Lewisham.

Why are we trying to do this

We want to increase awareness of dementia within the community and improve the quality of life for people living with dementia and their carers. We want people continue to remain active and valued members of the Catford South community

What do we hope to achieve?

• Increased awareness of dementia in the local community
• Reduced stigma
• Increased dementia diagnosis rate
• People with dementia feel empowered
• Businesses and services respond positively to customers with dementia
• Children and young people living with dementia feel reduced stigma and can be more open about their experiences
• People living with dementia are able to maintain their independence
• People with dementia feel part of the local community and are included
• Community unity and cohesion will be further developed by all aspects of the community striving for the same goal

How did we kick this off in the community?

A dementia awareness event was held on Wednesday 3rd of February 2016.

We were overwhelmed by the turnout and interest of local organisations in Catford South, 33 separate community groups, faith groups, residents associations and more, took time out of their lives to find out more about dementia and think about how they could make their organisation more Dementia Friendly

All 33 organisations who attended the event and have made their pledge to join the Lewisham Dementia Action Alliance are listed here, we also list organisations who were unable to attend but want to be involved

We want to give you all a huge Thank you for getting involved in making your community an accredited dementia friendly community

Find out what we did and learnt at the Dementia Awareness and engagement event

How do we become and Accredited Area –
What you need to do

We are asking organisations and businesses to sign up to the Lewisham Dementia Action Alliance.

Access the registration form by clicking here

Fill out a brief form, giving a bit of information about your organisation, remember to add your logo

Come up with 3 simple actions to help make you more dementia friendly

Your actions can be as big or as little as you think you can manage, keep it realistic

Submit your form and wait for your registration confirmation

Work on your actions over the year

What do we do

We will work with the community to sign up as many organisations to the LDAA as possible

We will make the application to become an accredited area on behalf of the community as a whole

We will keep in touch with you throughout the year to how how your are getting on

We are here to help you every step of the way.

we can help you with your form,
help you come up with some actions,
look through anything before you send it off,
help arrange training,
visit you personally,
make links between you and useful contacts,
and celebrate you when you have become a member of the LDAA

Who Are We?

Karin Barthel is the Joint commissioning manager for the Lewisham Clinical Commissioning group for Dementia and Mental Health in Older Adults
contact her on: karin.barthel@nhs.net
Barbara Grey is the Community Development Lead for Catford South, Chair of the Corbett Estate Neighbourhood Forum and local resident
Contact her on: raekinda@hotmail.co.uk
Lucy Formolli is the Catford South Local Assembly Coordinator and lead officer for older people in Cultural Development
Contact her on: lucy.formolli@lewisham.gov.uk
Councillor Eva Stamirowski is the Lead Local Councillor for the Catford South Dementia Accreditation Project