Bristol Later Life Service awarded for dementia work

The Bristol Later Life Service will be one of the first teams in Bristol to be awarded with a Purple Angel as a result of its work to help make Bristol a dementia friendly city.

The Purple Angel is awarded by the Bristol Dementia Action Alliance (BDAA). It is part of a new project to make Bristol a dementia friendly place where people with dementia can enjoy the same opportunities to take part in a social life, live independently and engage in everyday activity as other people, without fear of stigma or rejection.

On 4 September, staff from the Bristol Later Life Services are heading out to shops and businesses in south Bristol with the aim of asking them to agree to train their staff on dementia and its associated problems and to deliver a training pack for all their staff to read.

They will then go back two weeks later to present businesses with their own Purple Angel if they have been able to train up their staff within this time.

There will be further visits over the next few months to help the BDAA reach all the businesses and shops across Bristol.

The team are also hosting a Bristol Dementia Action Alliance Roadshow at Woodside, Callington Road Hospital, on the evening of 8 October to further spread the word of the Purple Angel initiative.

Sam Shanks, Team Manager, Later Life Complex Intervention and Treatment Team says: “This is a really exciting venture in the Bristol area and one the team are pleased to be a part of.”