CCF funds a Virtual Reality Dementia Tour for members of Hayle Memory Café

A recent grant of £4,000 from the Adult Social Care grant programme gave Hayle Memory Café the unique opportunity to host Training2Care’s Virtual Dementia Tour Bus for three days in April. Representatives from CCF took a trip down to see how training from the experience can help volunteers, family members and carers who care for someone living with dementia every day.

Hayle Memory Café provides a safe space for its members with weekly themed sessions including arts and crafts, music for reminiscence and training. The tour bus offered a chance for it's members to explore what it could be like for someone living with dementia and gave an insight into the everyday struggles. Activities included trying to lay the table, folding away the washing or trying to put on a tie, all made difficult through props from the Training2Care team to show how simple everyday tasks are often difficult for someone with dementia.

Grants Officer Alison Mitchelmore, who visited the bus said, “Hayle Memory Café applied for funding to achieve a dream of bringing a Virtual Reality Dementia Tour Bus to Cornwall, to allow carers to experience what it can be like to have dementia. On my visit I found the bus incredibly interesting, and it gave a very good insight into the issues people with dementia have to face in a very graphic way. Feedback from members who also attended the projectA piece of work that delivers an output. has been very positive and has helped to enhance their understanding when caring for their loved ones or clients. I’m delighted the grant from the Adult Social Care programme could help Hayle Memory Café with this vital project.”

1 in 3 people in the UK will end up with a form of dementia within their lifetime. Training from the Dementia bus showed just how important it is for someone in care to understand the ways people with dementia communicate as it can be very different to people without and the steps that can be put in place to make life somewhat easier for someone with dementia.

For more information or to book the Virtual Dementia Tour, click here.