Supporting refugees with Family Dementia guide

We are proud to announce that we are helping elderly Ukrainian refugees who are living with dementia and who are taking refuge with families in Poland by translating our Family Dementia Care Guide and making it available to any aid agency, charity or community-based project that may need it.

Over two million people have already fled Ukraine, with about one million of them crossing into Poland seeking safety, protection and assistance. It is estimated that approximately 10 per cent are elderly and many will be living with a degenerative disease such as Alzheimer’s.

Home Instead wants to put its wealth of dementia advice to good use and support the crisis victims and their amazing Polish host families. We have adapted and translated some of our family advice material relating to supporting a loved one living with dementia.

The new Family Dementia Care Guide will be initially translated into Polish and Ukrainian, and offer expert advice and tips on how to best communicate with and support a person who is perhaps experiencing heightened confusion and stress as a result of dementia. You can access the guide below.

For people living with a dementia, being moved to unfamiliar surroundings and going through the trauma of having to leave the comfort and familiar home environment is doubly distressing and confusing.

Learning and Development Lead at Home Instead, Sarah Gribbin, commented, “For someone living with dementia, the world can seem a confusing place, so imagine the additional trauma and distress caused by the events happening in Ukraine. Being uprooted from familiar surroundings and routines and a lack of usual access to family and friends can seriously exacerbate the symptoms of dementia.

“The new guide is based on our expert and award-winning dementia training that was developed for our Care Professionals.”

“The material produced for Polish families and Ukrainian refugees succinctly takes the main points to offer what will be much-needed advice. How people respond to the person with dementia and their environment are factors that will significantly impact on quality of life.”

Home Instead UK CEO, Martin Jones added: “One can only start to imagine what the displaced Ukrainian people are going through. We know that those living with dementia will be having a very difficult time and we are keen to offer practical, meaningful support to both refugees with dementia and those wonderful families who have opened up their homes to care for them.”

Supporting refugees with Family Dementia guide