Newbridge hosts Dementia Inclusive Event
Senator Fiona O'Loughlin, Rita O'Rourke, Tara Rice (Community Engagement Officer Southeast) and Helen McLeane (Manager Alzheimer Day Care Centre Kildangan) Photos: Aishling Conway
THE LOCAL community came together as The Alzheimer Society of Ireland (The ASI)’s Friends of ASI hosted a dementia inclusive community event – in collaboration with Senator Fiona O’Loughlin, Co Chair of the All Party Oireachtas Group on Dementia – at the Keadeen Hotel in Newbridge on Thursday (26 February).
The event aimed to increase understanding of dementia and encourage local people, businesses, and community services across Kildare to help build a more dementia inclusive community. Senator Fiona O’Loughlin, co-chair of the All Party Oireachtas Group on Dementia, said: “I am proud to support this Friends of ASI event. This marks an important step in making Newbridge a dementia-friendly town.
“This initiative shows how national leadership and local action can come together to support people living with dementia and their families. Creating a dementia-inclusive society is not just a health issue, it is a social and political responsibility.
“By working together across communities, services, and government, we can ensure that people living with dementia and their families are met with understanding, compassion, and meaningful support.”
Head of Operations and Community Engagement at The ASI, Siobhan O’Connor said: "The Friends of ASI initiative has received an overwhelming response, with many eager to learn more about what it is like to live with dementia and how they can support those affected by the condition.
"The Alzheimer Society of Ireland is thrilled to bring this important conversation to the community."
Regional Operations Manager, Heather Musgrave at The ASI, said: "Dementia can be an isolating condition; for the person with the diagnosis and for their families. Communities play a crucial role in helping people live well with the condition.”
This marks the first Friends of ASI dementia inclusive community event in County Kildare, building on the strong network of active Friends of ASI communities already established nationwide. Friends of ASI is a dementia-inclusive programme.
It includes training, awareness, education, and services and aims to encourage people, businesses and services to create a more nurturing and accepting environment for people living with dementia and their families in their community.
People living with dementia are among the most marginalised in our society and can often face social exclusion and stigma.
This initiative is working alongside the HSE’s Dementia: Understand Together campaign, a national partnership between The ASI, HSE, Age Friendly Ireland, Age and Opportunity, Dementia Services Information and Development Centre and Healthy Ireland, encourages community members and people living with dementia to make their communities more dementia-inclusive, and in 2023, the organisation opened the Kildare Day Care Centre in Kildangan.
