Staff from Tesco stores in Chester joined forces with the Countess of Chester Hospital recently to tackle dementia. Members of staff from the supermarket chain joined almost 100 people who attended a dementia friends session at the Countess.
Customer service staff from four Tesco stores, (Chester Home Plus, Foregate Street, Sealand Road and Bromborough) attended a Dementia Friends session at the Countess of Chester Hospital last month to help raise awareness of dementia and what we can all do to help.
Dementia Friends information sessions are run by Dementia Friends Champions, who are volunteers who have taken the Dementia Friends Champions training. Each session lasts around one hour and attendees learn more about dementia and how we can help to create dementia friendly communities. There are information sessions running across England.
Andy Tysoe, Dementia Nurse Specialist at the Countess and Dementia Friends Champion said: "This dementia information session was attended by an incredible 92 people including 15 members of staff from Tesco and it was fantastic to see their enthusiasm and engagement during the session. The 'quiet crisis' of dementia can no longer be viewed solely as an issue for health and social care. It impacts and affects us all and the communities in which we live."
Andy added "The Tesco staff have promised to explore my ambition of creating a dementia-friendly checkout till to help raise the profile of this devastating illness and hopefully improve the experience of people with dementia within their communities."
Anyone is welcome to attend a Dementia Friends information session. For details, please visit www.dementiafriends.org.uk or alternatively email the Countess Dementia Team at dementia.friends@nhs.uk.