Supermarket launches Dementia Friendly shopping
Sainsbury’s will provide two hours a week for Dementia Friendly Shopping on a Wednesday between 2-4pm.
It follows a pledge to become a Dementia Friendly store, and it is hoped that other shops and businesses will follow suit.
“One of our colleagues has become a volunteer Dementia Friends Champion and delivers Dementia Friends Information Sessions to all other colleagues,” said a spokesperson.
“All colleagues working during this time will be a Dementia Friend, and will be available to assist anyone who needs help. Stock cages will be kept off the shop floor, tannoy announcements will be kept to a minimum, black mats at the front of store will be replaced with green mats, chairs will be available and we will have a ‘slow checkout’ to use.
“We have also put coin identifying cards on our tills to help with recognising the different coins.
“Everyone is welcome to shop during this time.”
Alzheimer’s Society’s Dementia Friends programme is the biggest ever initiative to change people’s perceptions of dementia. It aims to transform the way the nation thinks, talks and acts about the condition. Dementia touches the lives of millions of people across the UK. Dementia Friends was launched to tackle the stigma and lack of understanding that means many people with the condition experience loneliness and social exclusion.
There are 850,000 people living with dementia in the UK, with numbers set to rise to over 1 million by 2025. 225,000 people will develop dementia this year alone, that’s one every three minutes.
An Alzheimer’s Society survey showed that almost 80% of people living with dementia listed shopping as their favourite activity, but one in four of these people have sadly chosen to stop shopping as their dementia progresses, due to being worried about getting the support they need.
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