Of the 200+ businesses and organisations across Leeds who have committed to be Age and Dementia Friendly, around 40% are organisations which work directly with older people. This includes volunteer-led social groups, private homecare businesses, charities providing services and respite day centres.

This is perhaps not surprising. These organisations may already be connected with the work of Leeds Older People’s Forum or may have been proactive in ensuring they’re linked into our work. But as someone recently asked me “Aren’t these organisations already age friendly and dementia friendly?” My answer was “Probably, hopefully, yes! But there’s always room for improvement.”

The strands that run through age friendly and dementia friendly work are tied by this principle – there’s always more we can do, more we can learn, more people to reach and that small changes over time can lead to big impacts.

Great things are not done by impulse, but by a series of small things brought together.

Vincent Van Gogh

We wanted to shine the spotlight on four of the many organisations we have across our city who work each day supporting older people in our communities. To highlight the small (and the big) things they do to ensure the services they provide are welcoming and inclusive to all.

Emma Collier from Wetherby in Support of the Elderly (WiSE), a charity that works to reduce isolation in the over 60’s states:

“We now run a Memory Cafe for people living with dementia and their carers. This has just recently increased from twice a month to three times a month, due to demand.”

As well as the Memory Cafe, WiSE encourages people living with dementia and their carers to join other WiSE activities. They work hard to ensure their services are accessible by providing a transport service, and offer dementia training to ensure staff and volunteers are welcoming.

“We want people to know we are age and dementia friendly as this will hopefully encourage contact with us.”

Ellie Smith of Rainbow Care Group North Leeds, a respite and day care service for those living with dementia, told us how creating a dementia friendly culture is central to the service they offer. They do this by:

• providing training to staff on dementia awareness and communication techniques.
• creating dementia-friendly environments that are easy to navigate and free of potential hazards.
• offering support services and resources for people living with dementia and their caregivers.
• encouraging social inclusion and participation in community activities.
• promoting empathy and understanding towards people with dementia to reduce stigma and discrimination.

Ellie says that being age and dementia friendly “aligns completely with our values and the training supports us in what we do each day.”

At Blossom Home Care the staff feel similarly empowered by being age and dementia friendly, as Gemma Eayrs explains: “the carers in the team feel like they can approach situations with more confidence and also feel supported when they may need extra information…”

Blossom Home Care wants to empower individuals to continue living a fulfilled life, and not feel that because of age or a diagnosis people can no longer live the life they would like.

“We work in partnership with families, relatives, advocates and other professionals to ensure we meet all needs and requirements of a person’s support. But foremost we put the individual at the centre, making it about them.”

Rose’s tea bar is a community cafe, run by a team of volunteers at Heart Community Centre in Headingley and linked to local Neighbourhood Network, OWLS.

Julie Badon, a volunteer, says “It is a welcoming space, open to all regardless of their circumstances. Rose who ran the tea bar for many years in the end had dementia, but she continued to attend and enjoy the tea bar. We have had training and we have adapted the environment by having more and accessible seating. Great learning here for all generations, be they young or old – we learn from each other.”

Importantly, it’s not just services which are aimed at supporting older people that we want to take action, but all services, businesses and settings. A third of the population of Leeds are aged 50+ and the size of the 70-80+ population is going to increase significantly in the coming years(1). We will all need high streets, transport options and public spaces which are accessible and responsive to our needs.

We call on all businesses and organisations in Leeds to begin their journey, to think about how they can become age friendly and dementia friendly. Planting those seeds today will benefit us all tomorrow.

Don’t judge each day by the harvest you reap, but by the seeds you plant

Robert Louis Stevenson

Join over 200 Leeds’ businesses – sign up today as an Age and Dementia Friendly Business.

More information visit Leeds Older People’s Forum’s website  
Contact Sarah:
sarah@opforum.org.uk
07871371803

Sarah Prescott
Friendly Communities Officer

1.Ageing Well: Our Lives in Leeds, Director of Public Health Annual Report, Leeds City Council, 2023