Notting Hill Genesis (NHG) has officially pledged to be completely Dementia Friendly by 2020.
Following in the footsteps of Mayor Sadiq Khan’s initiative to make London a dementia-friendly capital, over the next year NHG is aiming to raise awareness, knowledge and understanding of dementia, both internally and externally. This includes getting all members of NHG’s Executive Board trained to be ‘Dementia Friends’
NHG is already a member of the Pan-London Dementia Action Alliance. It also created the Dementia Friendly London Group and is part of the National Housing Federation’s Dementia and Housing Working Group, but has now officially promised to become a Dementia Friendly Organisation.
All NHG staff wanting to become a Dementia Friend will be asked to undergo a training session, at the end of which they will receive an ‘I am a Dementia Friend’ badge and be asked to carry out a small action towards increasing awareness. This might be telling someone they know about the programme or visiting someone living with dementia.
Carl Byrne, Group Director of Housing at NHG, said: ‘There are over 72,000 people affected by dementia in London alone. As one of London’s leading housing associations, NHG has a vital role to play in ensuring we provide support to the growing number of people living with dementia, which includes our own staff and residents.’
By 2020, NHG is hoping for 90 per cent of all staff and the whole of its Executive Board to be Dementia Friends; for all managers to be aware and supporting any staff that they manage living or caring for people with dementia, and for there to be an easily accessible support group within the business.
For more information, email dementia@nhg.org.uk or see www.dementiafriends.org.uk