World Alzhiemer’s Day
It’s World Alziehmer’s Day today, 21st September. Learn more about our Dementia Wellbeing East London service and the support St Joseph’s Hospice provides to people affected by dementia.
World Alzheimer's Month
September is World Alzheimer’s Month, with World Alzheimer’s Day taking place on 21 September each year.
At St Joseph’s Hospice, our Dementia Wellbeing East London (DWEL) service provides support to people living with dementia, their families, and carers.
Dementia is the UK’s biggest killer. Every 3 minutes someone in the UK develops dementia and 1 in 3 people born in the UK today will go on to develop dementia in their lifetime. Source: (https://www.alzheimers.org.uk/what-we-do/news-and-media/facts-media)
Dementia Wellbeing East London
Our DWEL service offers person-centred social and emotional support free of charge to people living with advanced dementia across Hackney, City of London, and Tower Hamlets. Our trained volunteers provide ten dementia wellbeing sessions in the person’s home, care home, or hospital. The volunteers offer meaningful activities and sensory stimulation, embracing any individual or cultural needs or interests.
Music Group
We have found that for so many people music is a “connector” and a “go to” in our one-to-one sessions, so we decided to create a music group specifically for our Community Members with dementia and their carers. These performances offer sensory stimulation that can help people with dementia reconnect with loved ones and find joy in music and creativity. Specialists lead a variety of known and loved songs, which have been shown to tap into the memory of people with dementia. Our attendees love to sing and dance – take a look below!
Love to Move
A new DWEL pilot programme, Love to Move is a fun dementia-friendly seated movement programme set to music. Devised by the British Gymnastics Foundation, the sessions are specially designed to help older people move more and function better by carefully integrating gymnastic foundation skills, cognitive stimulation, and social interaction activities. Our attendees have been loving the sessions so far!
Referrals
If you know or provide care for someone living with dementia in the boroughs we serve, you can make a referral to DWEL on their behalf.
To make a referral to this service, please call the First Contact Team on 0300 30 30 400 or email stjosephs.firstcontact@nhs.net
To learn more, please contact the Dementia Wellbeing East London Team on 020 8525 3165 or email dementiawellbeingeastlondon@stjh.org.uk
Volunteer with us
You could help support DWEL by becoming a volunteer.
We are currently recruiting for new DWEL volunteers and our next training dates are in November 2025. To find out more about volunteering, please visit the link.
Dementia Wellbeing East London Volunteer » St. Joseph’s Hospice
