CAMPAIGN: Help raise £100,000 for an Admiral Nurse

A £100,000 appeal to fund an Admiral Nurse specialising in the care of people living with dementia is being launched in Sidmouth today (Monday).

If successful, it will fill a need seen as critical in supporting both carers and the cared for,.

“We think the expertise of an Admiral Nurse would make a huge difference to the growing numbers living with this dreadful condition in our area,” said Adrian Ford, a trustee of the Sid Valley Memory Café, which is launching the fundraising campaign in partnership with the Sidmouth Herald.

Admiral Nurses are recognised for the gold standard of dementia care they deliver to enable affected families to live as positively as possible by providing expert practical and emotional support. They are available from diagnosis and through all the transitions of care until the end of life.

It is estimated that up to 700 people in the Sid Valley have dementia. Many are cared for at home by their families for whom the role quickly becomes a stressful 24/seven responsibility.

Taking carers into account, the increased numbers living with dementia in the Sid Valley affects almost ten per cent of an increasingly elderly population at a time when local support services have been reduced, leaving carers to cope on their own with a frightening diagnosis, worsening prospects and a significant reduction in their social network.

It is against this background that Sid Valley Memory Café has decided to secure an Admiral Nurse for the Sidmouth area.

See this week’s Sidmouth Herald for more.