A short poem for Dementia United, exploring the needs of people living with dementia and created using their own words.
Dementia United (NHS Greater Manchester) hosted a hybrid event on June 6th 2022 in partnership with the Alzheimer’s Society, International Longevity Centre and lived experience members along with other key partners and supported by Roche.
One key aim of the event was a respectful reflection on the impact of the pandemic on people affected by dementia; it was vitally important therefore, that we captured people’s experiences in the build up to and on the day of the event, in a variety of ways such as with blogs, pledges, roving reporting from Talking About My Generation
The pledge form was sent out widely in the weeks building up to the event and asked for feedback on what they thought would make Greater Manchester a better place to live for people affected by dementia.
39 pledges forms were completed by carers, family members, people living with dementia and health and care professionals from across six localities and were reviewed by the event steering group who identified three key pledges that were then discussed in the morning plenary session.
Sam Illingworth, Associate Professor at Edinburgh Napier University, created this poem from all the feedback from the 39 pledges. Sam provided a really powerful opening to a great discussion on the three key pledges.
We commissioned Tony Husband (graphic illustrator) to produce some ‘visual minutes’. Tony had previously worked with Springboard and Pennine Care NHS Foundation Trust in Oldham to develop the Let’s talk About Death Shall We leaflet (part funded by Dementia United).
Transport
Post diagnostic support
Finances
Cartoons by Tony Husband
You can read our evaluation of the event here