Havering garden centres generously donated flowers to Cranham Court for this year’s Dementia Action Week.
Residents of the home were delighted to receive plant donations from local garden centres and nurseries in aid of Dementia Action Week. The goal of Dementia Action Week is to encourage people to take action to improve the lives of those affected by dementia, working to create a dementia-friendly UK where those with dementia do not feel excluded.
Kay Aldous, the Activities Coordinator at Cranham Court said: “We’ve had the garden up and running for a while, but this year we got a lot of nurseries to donate some flowers to us for Dementia Action Week. The residents can watch the flowers develop in the garden, we also have a sensory section which helps on all levels because they need as much stimulation as they can get.”
Wyevale Garden Centre, in Nags Head Lane, Upminster and Bonnetts Garden Village in Mascalls Lane were two of the centres to donate plants.
“Some of them haven’t flowered yet so we don’t know what they’re going to be. But we try to choose flowers that are as colourful as possible,” Kay added. “The residents thoroughly enjoy it.”
There are 850,000 people in the UK who are affected by dementia, and it does not just affect the elderly, 40,000 people in the UK under the age of 65 suffer from early onset dementia. It is believed that by 2051 the number of people who have dementia in the UK will have risen to 2 million.
Organised by the Alzheimers society, it was decided that for 2018 the name of the week would change to Dementia Acton Week in order to recognise the fact that while raising awareness of issues surrounding dementia is important, more action needs to be taken to create the change in communities that people with dementia want and need.