Our Vision

People living with dementia in East Belfast feel empowered, valued, safe and supported to live full independent lives

Our Mission

To work within the East Belfast community to increase awareness and understanding, inclusion and support for people living with dementia

Background

There are currently 850,000 people with dementia in the UK, and this number is increasing. Due to the gradual nature of dementia, the mild early-stage symptoms and the low diagnosis rate, it is difficult to know the exact number of people living with the condition.

With this all-in mind, Dementia Friendly East Belfast (DFEB) was established in 2015 to help East Belfast become more dementia friendly for those living with dementia locally.

Many people were interested and after a series of workshops a vision, mission & outcomes were agreed to provide direction. A steering group was developed, all members involved can be found here The key to the success of the work is to have people living with dementia and their carers, at the forefront of the campaign. Very often you find people on whose behalf you are campaigning, aren't actually involved in something so you are making an assumption about what they need.

We launched our action plan in May 2016 in St Mark's Church with Belfast Health & Social Care Trust, Public Health Agency, voluntary organisations, community groups, PSNI, the NIFRS as well as people living with dementia in attendance.

This project stands out because it has a simple approach by bringing together like-minded people to deliver the same message; simple changes can make a big difference to the lives of people living with dementia.