Alzheimer’s Society and Mind to deliver dual language dementia awareness session in new collaboration

The Rochdale and District Mind Wellbeing Centre on Drake Street

UPDATE: 2pm Tuesday 8 March

A previous version of this article said the first session was to be scheduled to be run on Wednesday 23 March 2022 between 11am and 12.30pm at Mind’s offices - but this has now been cancelled due to unforeseen circumstances. A new date is to be scheduled.

Alzheimer’s Society and Mind in Rochdale are setting up a coordinated initiative to reach out to people from the South Asian community across the area.

The new collaboration will make information on dementia more readily accessible for people whose first language is not English.

In one of the first pilot programmes of its kind, the two charities have got together to combine their skills and expertise to deliver Dementia Friends and dementia awareness sessions for local Urdu and Bangla speaking communities.

A date for the first session is to be determined, but will run at Mind’s offices on Drake St, Rochdale and will include light refreshments and a Q&A session for attendees.

Urdu and Bangla speakers from Mind and a Dementia Support Worker from Alzheimer’s Society will be present to help people understand what dementia is, how to seek a diagnosis, its impact on the individual with the condition and their families and how to live well with the condition.

Speaking of the information day, Qulzam Bhatti, Dementia Wellbeing Coordinator and Engagement Lead, Rochdale and District Mind (Including Bury and North East Lancashire) said: “It is paramount that the South East Asian and BAME communities are supported by enabling information and awareness is appropriately cascaded and barriers are broken for it to be better understood and relatable. Too often the communities are marginalised and the disparity is further exacerbated due to the fundamentals of accessibility not being addressed.”

Ali Roberts, Dementia Support Worker, Alzheimer’s Society, Rochdale, added: “People from South East Asian and other ethnically diverse communities tend to be under-represented in our client base and we hope that initiatives like this will encourage people to come forward for the help and support in a timely way, to ensure that people with dementia can live well with their condition.”

Anyone wishing to know more should contact: Ali Roberts on ali.roberts@alzheimers.org.uk or Helen Hinks on helen.hinks@alzheimers.org.uk or Qulzam Bhatti on qulzambhatti@rochdalemind.org.uk.