Category: Blog

We had 28 members today. Lisa welcomed everyone and reminded them about the carers group session later. A few members had forgotten that the Karaoke started at 2pm but as there were a few technical issues today and our music entertainer was also unable to perform, Lisa had to put plan B in motion and repeat the karaoke again. This pleased many members who missed the first one.

Everyone liked the choice of music and especially liked Night Fever. We were reminded of the dress code with men’s flares and the ladies with pretty frocks and the line dancing, pleasant memories!

Our exercise instruction Rachel was then ready and waiting to start and Lisa also informed Rachel how members were loving the Night Fever music and suggested to Rachel that perhaps she can prepare a line dancing routine for Night Fever next week. Rachel was happy to do this and said that if members had any other favourite song they wanted to dance, to let Rachel know.

The session then continued with Kevin today, one of the carers as he organised a Riddles quiz. There were 10 questions and they were really good fun. In fact Pam and Helen and Gina got 10 out of 10. Thank you Kevin for organising such a fun quiz.

It was then time for Bingo and Lisa called out the numbers. There was a lot of excitement and the winner today was Gina and Chris.

Andrew Wrensch a Qualified Trainer will be starting to provide training on various topics at the Dementia Club UK weekly Carers Group session every Tuesday from 7pm to 8.30pm. The session starts at 7pm for carers to raise and chat generally about any concerns and then the training will start at 7.30pm for 30 minutes followed by questions and answers and at 8pm there will be an opportunity for questions and answers and a further chat on any other matters. The session finishes at 8.30pm.

The first training is on Tuesday 9th February and the topic is – ‘Understanding Distressed behaviour’

For further details to join please email Lisa lisa.rutter@dementiaclubuk.org.uk or call Mobile: 07956858913

Please see some of the list of topics below for your information; (Some topics may take more than one session)

1) Understanding Distressed Behaviour

2) Dementia Awareness (types of Dementia)

3) Infection Prevention and Control

4) Nutrition and Hydration

5) Basic Life Support (theory only) – Delivered by Peter Simaliak

6) Fire Awareness

7) Moving and Handling – Theory only (30 mins for hints and tips or 4 hours for the full subject)

8) Equality and Diversity

9) Mental Health – both learning basics and actual support if people need (Andrew is also happy to do one to one with people in the evenings or weekends if people need support.

10) Mindfulness – Normally 8 weeks programme – a number one choice for people facing stress. Andrew can support stress reduction as well as mindfulness.

11) COSHH (for anyone that needs it) (Control of Substances Hazardous to Health)

12) Stroke Awareness

13) Person Centeredness

Other topics that people might be interested in;

14) VAK test- know how you learn and how you retain information

15) Personality profile (basic personality profile based on the DISC assessment with elements of Myers Briggs

16) First Aid (certified) will need to be done face to face

17) Basic Life Support (certified) is being configured to support online learning, available later this year.

We had 28 members today. Lisa started the Karaoke at 2pm as usual and then at 2.30pm everyone was ready for their chats. Lisa welcomed everyone and informed them that Katie who was going to do the music entertainment today was unfortunately unwell with a migraine. Members were happy to hear however that Lisa organised James Le Bec to do cover. Lisa also reminded them about the training tomorrow at the carers session in the evening. Everyone is very excited about that.

James then started the music entertainment and sang a wonderful selection of songs for 30 minutes which everyone really enjoyed and sang along to. The session then followed with Eon Walters who gave everyone a great workout. Lisa then took over with a fun ‘Family Fortunes’ quiz game and then called out the Bingo numbers. The Bingo winner today was Kevin and Mabel.

Stephen and Brenda two of our members are part of the World Neuroscience innovations forum in London and Volunteer Partners with Alzheimer’s Research UK. They have given us permission to publish on our website their short life story and also their interview with Martin Samuels – a Professor of Neurology at Harvard Medical School.

You can read Brenda’s journey with dementia and how she became involved in one of the drug trials called the Amaranth drug trial. This sadly didn’t work and Brenda went on to try another drug trial called Etheral which unfortunately also failed. Although these drug trials didn’t work, Brenda and Stephen feel that they are making a contribution to the progress of medical science. Well done to both of them and especially Brenda for being so courageous.

We had 19 members today. Lisa started the karaoke at 2pm and at 2.30pm Lisa welcomed everyone and they were happy for their chat time. James Le Bec and Joy then joined us and were ready to start their music entertainment. James had heard that Dementia Club UK recently won ‘Charity of the Year’ and therefore started with singing – Congratulations By Cliff Richard. Lisa and all the members were delighted. James then sang a medley of songs before starting the music quiz. James planned a much tougher music quiz today but members still did really well and they always enjoy the challenge. The winners were Helen and Gina with 10 out of 10 and Sandra with 9 and a half. James then adds a further quick quiz and today was to name 10 famous ladies beginning with ‘J’ the total score today was 112.

Richard Kravetz then joined to start the chair Yoga exercises which everyone really enjoys. Richard then continues to do a general knowledge quiz and today was a fun quiz to name 10 of the children’s Mr Men books from the author Adam Hargreaves. He continued his father’s series of children’s books. Richard gave some clues of course and this helped to name the books. Quite a few members got 10 out of 10 – Keren and Francis, Chris and Gina, Karin and Corrado and Helen.

Lisa then continued to call out the bingo numbers and the winners today were 2 winners – Kevin and Mabel and Gina and Chris.

We had 18 members this evening. Lisa welcomed everyone and gave apologies for Mike Rich who was not feeling very well. Lisa welcomed new members and gave a few updates. Lisa reported that she had still not heard anything after her speech at Barnet Council asking for Unpaid Carers to be recognised in the first two priority groups. Lisa further reported however that she has since heard that the CCG may be contacting to obtain unpaid carers details which is a good sign. One of the carers also mentioned at the meeting that this was already happening in another Borough.

Lisa then mentioned about the email and links she received from Stephen Whittle. Stephen and his wife Brenda are volunteer Partners with Alzheimer’s Research UK and Lisa informed everyone that Stephen has given permission for his short life story to be published on our website. There is also an interview with them both.

Lisa then welcomed Andrew Wrensch and asked him about the farm which was discussed last week. Andrew mentioned last week about his 2 horses on a farm and this would be a good idea for an outing one day for members. Lisa looked this up and reported in her previous write up that it was – Lewis of London at Fold Farm in Barnet. However, Andrew said that his farm with the 2 horses are opposite to this farm and the address is Barnet Livery Yard-106, Galley Lane, EN5 4AL

Lisa then mentioned about the training which will be starting next Tuesday 9th February and Lisa said that she would be emailing everyone with all the details of the training. Andrew said that he was looking forward to it.

Lisa then asked Kevin to speak as he had already indicated that he had a few concerns to report. Kevin felt let down by his MP Bob Blackman who was supposed to attend his carers meeting and failed to make any contact with Kevin. Kevin also mentioned his experience when he attended a vaccination centre for Mable and asked if it was possible for him to be vaccinated and unfortunately was confronted with a volunteer who obviously had no understanding about unpaid carers and was very dismissive to Kevin.

Kevin also reported how when he also still sees people not wearing face masks in supermarkets which makes him angry and used to confront those people but he now tries to avoid close contact.

There were several different discussions then raised. One question was how do we help those living with dementia to help them recognise that when its night time it is time to sleep. One of the members mentioned that in some care homes it has been tried where the cares at night put on their pyjamas and this might help the residents to know that it’s bedtime. Andrew who is a Community Development Manager at Carlton Court care Home said that he would certainly speak to the manager and try this out.

Dr Angela has provided the following link below;

https://www.carehome.co.uk/news/article.cfm/id/1616847/one-ten-care-workers-pyjamas-residents-dementia-know-bedtime

There was another discussion about the difficulties for some people especially the elderly with mobility issues to get to the vaccination centres. One of the members however mentioned that there is something called ‘Cabs for Jabs’ and this is already happening in some boroughs.

Lisa then mentioned about a You Tube video she watches daily from Dr John Campbell – an A&E accident and emergency nurse for 40 years, provides very thorough reports about Coronavirus and the Science behind everything. Lisa talked to everyone about today’s video which was about Mouthwash and how this could prevent infection and progression of Covid-19. Lindsey Dixon a Canadian pharmacist was talking to Dr Campbell about Mouthwash. It doesn’t need to be any particular mouth wash. It could even be plain water, as it is the action of rinsing the oral cavity which has the same benefits. In Vietnam they have 96 million people. Covid cases under 2000 and only had 35 deaths. They recommended their population to use mouthwash and the purchase of mouthwash went up 78% during the pandemic. Jan 23rd 2020 one patient treated – no antibiotics, sent to the roof top for sunshine and outdoor exercise. Windows were left open in hospitals and patients asked to gargle every day. Lindsey recommended that everyone should use it especially if you feel you have a scratchy throat. This could reduce viral load. Lisa then mentioned that taking Vitamin D especially now when we have no sunshine is very important to help boost our immune system.

Dr Angela also agreed that this was important but also mentioned that you can overdose with it if you have too much. The recommended dose is 25mg, 1000 units.

Lisa showed everyone that they can buy a spray which is simple. Dr Angela provided the following link below about the possible beneficial role of throat gargling;

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7266767/

Everyone thought it was a very interesting and very informative meeting. Lisa thanked everyone and closed the meeting at 8.40pm.

We had 21 members today. Lisa welcomed everyone at 2.30pm and gave a few updates. Today was Sotiris’s birthday and everyone wished Sotiris a very happy birthday. Lisa also reminded everyone that as from next Tuesday 9th February the Karaoke session on Tuesday will also start at 2pm like all the other days. This was because Ian James our music entertainer will be coming back again and he will be performing at 3pm. Everyone were very pleased to hear that Ian was coming back.

At 3pm Lisa & Mark started the Karaoke session and everyone was happy to sing along especially to their requests which Lisa always tries to find.

Rachel was then ready to start at 3.30pm the chair exercises to music and then introduces new dance movements.

Lisa then got everyone to do a fun ‘Family Fortunes quiz’ and pretended with Kevin that they both went together to Lancashire to do a survey there. There were 10 questions which was great fun and made everyone laugh. Lisa then called out the Bingo numbers and as there was a bit of a mix up today – there was no winner.

We had 25 members today which also included 2 new members Fiona and Grace from Bury, Lancashire. It was also a pleasure to meet their dog ‘Teddy’ a beautiful cocker poodle. Lisa started as usual with the 2pm Karaoke session and then at 2.30pm it was time for meet and chat. Lisa introduced our new members and everyone made them feel very welcome. It was a lovely surprise to Lisa to see a “Well Done” banner held up. This was relating to our charity’s recently winning Charity of the Year in Barnet. Lisa gave a couple of updates and mentioned that Mike Rich from Barnet Carers will be attending the carers group session on Tuesday and also mentioned that Ian James one of our previous music entertainers who left is now coming back and will be starting next Tuesday. Members were very pleased to hear this.

It was now time for Katie Paine to start the music entertainment and Lisa informed Katie that there were 2 birthdays. Our new members Grace had a birthday on the 29th January and is 82 years of age and it will be Sotiris’s birthday tomorrow. Katie made sure that Happy Birthday best wishes were sung to both of them and everyone joined in to sing too. Katie also had her niece Ava today and it was lovely to meet Ava. We now have 2 little girls of similar age called Ava at the session. Everyone was very pleased to meet Katie’s niece Ava. Katie’s music theme today was to ‘Guess the Year’ of all the songs she was going to sing. Katie asked all the members at the end individually what year in the 1950’s they thought it was. The correct answer was 1956. Members enjoyed that bit of guessing at the end which was fun.

Eon was then ready to start his chair exercise to music which is always a great success as everyone really looks forward to it. Lisa then finished the session with calling out the Bingo numbers and today’s winner was Karin.

We are really pleased that Dementia Club UK has won community Charity of the year

The Barnet Group Community Awards 2020

We want to thank Dementia Club UK members who nominated the charity to the Barnet Group and especially Helen and Kevin who spoke such kind words in the video above, (at about 15 minutes in).

We had 27 members today. Lisa started the Karaoke session at 2pm and at 2.30pm welcomed everyone. It was a pleasure to welcome 2 new members today, Kathy and Douglas and also welcome Helen from Rotary Club Northwick Park. Lisa reminded everyone to try and watch The Barnet Group 2020 Awards which can be seen on YouTube. Details are also found on The Barnet Group website.

James Le Bec our music entertainer was then ready to start with his partner Joy. James as usual got everyone singing straight away starting with ‘Show me the Way to go Home’ He then had another very interesting music quiz which everyone always enjoys. The winners today for the music quiz were Pam, Helen, Janine and Colin with 10 out of 10. The music quiz follows with naming 10 names and this week was naming 10 famous gentlemen names starting with H. The total of points scored this week were 116. James then finished off with getting everyone un-muted to sing ‘When the Saints go marching On’ and finally muting everyone again for his final song.

Richard Kravetz was then ready to start his chair Yoga class session which everyone loves. Richard had 2 of his students today, Tara and Beril who wanted to watch. Richard then does his general knowledge quiz which today was naming historical events over the years. This was quite challenging but members loves a bit of a challenge. The members who scored the highest points for the quiz were Andrew from the Church, followed by Stephen, Gina and Ruth. There was a bit of a sing-a-long to to one of Richard’s quiz questions to the ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’ and some members suggested to Lisa that we should add this to the next Karaoke session.

Lisa thanked Richard and then finished off the session by calling out the Bingo numbers. The Bingo winner today was Karen and Lillian.