Dementia Presentation to TY Students

“We remember their love when they can no longer remember."

Saint Joseph’s Shankill is the only care home in Ireland solely dedicated to dementia care.  Their vision is to lead the way in dementia care in Ireland through innovation, education and community engagement. They want to ensure families and communities are supported, engaged, and empowered to enable people living with dementia to enjoy the quality of life they deserve.

With 11 people diagnosed with dementia every day in Ireland there is a great need in society for specialised dementia care.  Everyone knows someone living with this devastating illness which is indiscriminate in its onset and the effects on people and their families can often be overwhelming.

On Thursday, April 11th members of the staff from St Joseph’s made an on line presentation to our TY students on the work being done, and the care given to the resident’s of St Joseph’s .AS in other Nursing homes , we learnt how people are loved, cherished, occupied and safe and are treated as a part of one big family.  The main message we received during the presentation is how privileged the staff members feel working in this care home. They emphasised that all residents truly matter to them, stating that people don’t go to St Joseph’s to die but to live.

This presentation about dementia was very insightful and very informative.I think a lot of TY students really benefited from listening and taking in the information, especially for all the loved ones that they may know, who have some form of Dementia .I think the information we received is very important for all of us to know for the future.

Rosaleen Boahen

"Persons living with dementia are usually capable of more than we can imagine."