I am Ovid Busette, a specialist in Wills, Tax & Estate Administration. I am also a Dementia Friend. Dementia Friends is an Alzheimer’s Society initiative which aims to change people’s perceptions of dementia. It is part of the Alzheimer’s Society’s Dementia Friendly Communities programme focusing on improving inclusion and quality of life for people with dementia. It also aims to transform the way the nation thinks, talks and acts about the condition.
Girlings has joined the ‘Dementia Friendly’ campaign and as a Firm we actively encourage our staff to become Dementia Friends and spread the word. As a result Girlings is now formally recognised as an organisation working to become Dementia Friendly. The symbol for the campaign, a small blue flower, is a forget-me-not which represents remembrance and is long associated with dementia.
Dementia Friends is about learning more about Dementia and the small ways you can help. From telling friends about the Dementia Friends programme to visiting someone you know living with dementia, every action counts.
Dementia can affect people of all ages not just the elderly. Alzheimer’s Society research shows that there are currently 850,000 people living with the condition in England, more than half have Alzheimer’s disease. In less than ten years a million people will be living with dementia. This will soar to 1.7 million people by 2051.
I am also the Secretary of the Dementia Action Alliance for Canterbury and Ashford (DAACA), who play their part in the Kent initiative 'Working towards being a dementia friendly community'.