After a two-year hiatus because of the pandemic, the Alzheimer’s Show is back!
I was fortunate enough to be one of Helping Hands’ representatives at the prestigious event this year hosted by the Business Design Centre in London, and it was wonderful to be able to chat face-to-face with potential customers, carers, and fellow industry professionals.
What is the Alzheimer’s Show?
The Alzheimer’s Show is the only UK event dedicated to dementia advice, support and information for healthcare professionals and family carers, and since it launched in 2013 over 18,000 visitors have attended. The show is a great opportunity to learn about the latest developments in the dementia field, including research, products and services, as well as having a chat with people who may benefit from having Helping Hands care or want to join us as our next amazing carers.
The show was attended by some of the biggest names in the areas of dementia research and support, such as the Alzheimer’s Society, Alzheimer’s Research UK, Age UK, Dementia UK, as well as, of course, Helping Hands!
Doors open
After setting up the stand the night before, my colleague Alice and I excitedly waited for the doors to open, along with Falguni from the home care Highbury and Islington branch. There was already a large queue of attendees waiting to enter and as 9.30am arrived people began streaming in, keen to discover more about the dementia services, advice and support on offer from all the exhibitors. We immediately began engaging with people, both family carers and professionals, and we worked hard to introduce Helping Hands to people who were not aware of our home care services.
In addition to promoting the amazing work Helping Hands does in keeping our customers as independent as possible in the homes they love, we were also able to build on our existing knowledge of dementia research and best practice in care delivery, thanks to the outstanding professional presentations.
As the morning wore on we were reassured by how many people said they’d already heard of Helping Hands and were impressed with our reputation, and when we were joined by colleagues Helen, Rachel, Sue and Kerry we could chat to even more people, ensuring that the
atmosphere on our stand was buzzing! We had plenty of goody bags to give out to people who came to the stand, thanks to Alice who worked tirelessly putting together our promotional materials, and we enjoyed explaining to people the range of home care services we could deliver, as well as encouraging carers to apply to work for us.
We were also joined on the stand for a while by Jacqueline, one of our live-in care area managers, as well as Carole and Deanna two of Helping Hands’ clinical nurses. Deanna was at the show to deliver a talk on the Saturday entitled “How to Stay at Home with the Right Dementia Care” which was very well received by everyone present.
Dementia-friendly branches
We’d designed our stand to reproduce our dementia friendly branches, with a memory bookshelf containing the sort of things an older person may have at home, such as ornaments, books, games and old photos. We also furnished the space with comfy armchairs, a cosy fireplace and plenty of cups and saucers. This can prove comforting to an older person living with dementia, as it can reduce anxiety through being surrounded by familiar items and memories.
Other exhibitors were demonstrating helpful products designed to support people living with dementia as well, such as the latest touch-screen technology that can play older TV programmes and music, plus furniture that recreates the living room of yesteryear.
All of us on the Helping Hands stand thought that the show had been a great success and despite the two-year gap since the last one, was well attended and definitely worth taking part in.
To conclude, all I can say is here’s to 2023 and an even bigger Alzheimer’s Show!
