Eurovia hails their Dementia Friends in Dementia Action Week
Eurovia is marking Dementia Awareness Week by hailing our own Dementia Friends who are making a positive difference to the lives of people with the condition.
Eurovia is one of the first construction companies to take part in the Alzheimer’s Society initiative and there are now 120 Dementia Friends across the business who have been trained to appreciate what it’s like to live with dementia and then turn that understanding into action that makes our sites friendlier to those with the condition.
To mark Dementia Action Week, which runs from 21 to 27 May, Julie Cartwright, Customer Relationship Coordinator for Eurovia Contracting North, ran a Dementia Friends training session for Eurovia colleagues, as well as Salford City Council and Urban Vision staff, who are currently working on an access road at RHS Bridgewater.
She took the Dementia Friends course herself last year after working on a public realm scheme in Warrington where she discovered just how it can affect those with the condition.
She subsequently became a Dementia Champion and has since run several short training courses for Eurovia and Ringway staff. These courses discuss ways to make our projects and sites more dementia friendly, including improved signage, hatching over large areas of black matting and asphalt and making sure any dementia friendly operatives are easily identifiable by the passing public.
Julie said: “Staff who have been trained as Dementia Friends now have stickers on their hard hats. Many of our clients are themselves working towards becoming dementia friendly communities, so it has benefits for us as a company as well as benefiting the communities where we are working.”
Eurovia’s Dementia Friends have taken action to make the sites where they work less intimidating for people with dementia.
“These are just little things, but they are making a big difference, which is the theme of Dementia Action Week,” added Julie, who hopes to train others within the business to become Dementia Champions who can then train others.
“I’m so passionate about it, because I can see the difference it has made. It has made a massive impact.”
