Dementia Friends Champion Ruth Ashton received this story from an attendee of a Session she recently ran at Nationwide. Ruth describes it as a 'shining example of how a new Dementia Friend has helped someone in his community to live well with dementia.'
Here's the story:
'I was working at the front of my house in Cleveleys and this lady approached myself and my wife not knowing where she was. She didn’t recognise her surroundings! I offered to drive her around, accompanied of course, to see if she recognised anywhere in the area. It transpired that she had managed to walk 4 miles with her mobility walker from Fleetwood and her husband had no idea where she was. After driving around for 15 minutes we took her to Blackpool as she was talking about the days when she was a barmaid (she was recalling the foundations of her early life). Myself and my wife kept her calm and we found a police officer who managed to trace her and took her home. I do believe if you hadn’t shared the session you did, I may have not understood the importance of the bookcase analogy and how to deal with this difficult situation. So thanks Ruth – it really did help!'