Care Boss Powerhouse receives National Lottery funding to boost dementia support in the community

A local dementia care advocate is celebrating after making a successful bid for funding on behalf of the Tavistock Dementia Alliance, being awarded over £130,000 from The National Lottery Community Fund as she continues her mission to make the area more dementia friendly.

As chair of the Tavistock Dementia Alliance, Lynn Roddy has been keen to recruit a dementia community coordinator who will raise awareness and promote better understanding of dementia across Tavistock and surrounding areas. The funding will go towards employing somebody for five years.

The role will involve building relationships with local organisations, as well as health and social care providers, to guide them on what they can do to support people they encounter who live with dementia, and their families.

As the owner of home care company Home Instead Tavistock and Tamar Valley, Lynn supports older people in the area living with dementia who want to stay in their beloved homes. For several years, Lynn has fought against the stigma of dementia. Having set up memory cafés and therapy groups in the area, which are attended by families affected by dementia, she has created an ideal space to meet likeminded people and learn what support is available.

Lynn says: “There are nearly a million people in the UK living with dementia, and that figure is only rising. For that reason, you can never know too much about dementia. The good news is that the amount of support for people with dementia and their families is only increasing. The challenge now is making people aware of it!

“Thank to the National Lottery Community fund, we can spread the message that help for people with dementia is out there. And just as importantly, it’s about educating everyone and making the area more dementia-friendly. I’m confident we will reach a point where it’s much more openly discussed.”

National Lottery players raise over £30 million a week for good causes across the UK. The National Lottery Community Fund distributes a share of this to projects to support people and communities to prosper and thrive.

During the pandemic, in 2020 alone, The National Lottery Community Fund distributed almost £1 billion to charities and community organisations across the UK.