Aylesford School students host dementia cafe

A secondary school in Aylesford is teaching students all about dementia and how it can impact the local community.

Transcript

00:00 Dementia is a devastating condition common amongst the elderly, but Ellsford School are

00:07 looking to educate its students about the effects of the illness and looking after those

00:12 affected in the community.

00:15 How is Ellsford School supporting those with dementia this Christmas?

00:19 Well, let's go inside and find out.

00:23 Students and staff from a variety of departments have come together to host a Dementia Cafe.

00:29 Using entertainment and a delicious festive dinner, it brings the community together whether

00:36 or not the disease is impacting their lives.

00:39 I'm hoping that they understand that people who have dementia are still human and that

00:47 they have value in life and that our students can connect with those people and are confident

00:53 to talk to people with dementia or elderly people anyway because it's really important

01:00 that we have a connection with the community and the people within it.

01:04 I hope that it's raised awareness about dementia because of course many, hopefully not now,

01:12 but many of our students will be affected by dementia personally because it affects

01:18 so many people, so I'm hoping that it raises awareness more than anything else.

01:23 The school has even received support from the National Lottery and Royal British Legion

01:28 Industries.

01:29 But for some of the teachers involved, there's great personal investment.

01:34 My grandad actually had dementia, both my grandads had dementia.

01:38 It's something that I feel is very close to my heart.

01:43 It's something I think I didn't understand as a young person and with the work with Building

01:48 Dementia Friendly Maidstone and the National Lottery funding us, we've been able to bring

01:56 sort of some training to those students and be able to develop those skills of talking

02:03 to people with dementia and making them feel part of a wider community.

02:10 So what have the students learned from the event?

02:12 I've definitely learnt a lot more about dementia and caring for people.

02:18 I've learnt so much more and I've known that everyone isn't the same as everybody else

02:24 and they suffer from a lot more things than what we do.

02:28 Well I've learnt a lot about how people struggle with dementia and even though they come across

02:34 many difficulties, we can give them opportunities that they might not have had before.

02:40 Ellsford School hopes that with Christmas around the corner, those with dementia won't

02:45 be forgotten.

02:46 Henry Luck for KMTV in Ellesford