More than 200 staff from National Museums Liverpool have become the first national museum service team to take part in the Dementia Friends initiative.
Employees from the front of house team, shops, café, education and senior posts attended Dementia Friends awareness sessions, run on behalf of the Alzheimer’s Society.
National Museums Liverpool has been providing its own dementia awareness training at the Museum of Liverpool since 2012. They have been working with more than 3,500 people in the health and social care sector to inform practice, help transform relationships and enhance the wellbeing of people living with dementia, with funding support from Liverpool Clinical Commissioning Group’s MI (More Independent) project.
Hazel Bayley, Regional Operations Manager of Alzheimer’s Society North West, told JMU Journalism: “National Museums Liverpool’s pioneering House of Memories project has been fantastic. By taking part in Dementia Friends awareness sessions, they are a shining example of how the Alzheimer’s Society envisages other organisations taking actions.
“We want to create a network of a million Dementia Friends across England by 2015, so a big ‘thank you’ goes to the staff at National Museums Liverpool for helping us achieve this ambition.”
Carol Rogers, Executive Director of Education and Communities at National Museums Liverpool, said: “It’s hugely important that we show visitors that our venues are places they can come and feel safe in a community that understands and supports their needs.”
She continued: “National Museums Liverpool has over a decade of experience working with older people, and we’ll never stop building on this. Becoming Dementia Friends is a great way of demonstrating our commitment to creating dementia-friendly communities, and our staff will wear the badges with pride.”