Supporting People with Dementia project launch

Mayor Ian Duckworth and Mayoress Christine Duckworth, Councillor M Zaman (Deputy Mayor), Councillor Daalat Ali (Deputy Leader), Councillor James Gartside, Councillor Billy Sheerin and Suhail Ahmed (Manager, Deeplish Community Centre)

Centre of Wellbeing, Training & Culture (CWTC), in collaboration with communities and services, hosted a launch event on Thursday to launch a new project, Supporting People with Dementia. 

Thie aim is to increase awareness of the condition within the South Asian community and signpost people to local support services.

Over 92 people attended the event, including Rochdale Mayor Ian Duckworth and Mayoress Christine Duckworth, Councillor M Zaman (Deputy Mayor), Councillor Daalat Ali (Deputy Leader), Councillor James Gartside, Councillor Billy Sheerin and Suhail Ahmed (Manager, Deeplish Community Centre).

14 Health and Social Care organisations and services provided support and information to attendees including, Thinking Ahead, Link4Life, MAC Clinical Research, HMR Circle, Healthwatch Rochdale, Springhill Hospice, Crossroads Together, Rochdale Training, Possabilities, Living Well Rochdale, Pakeeza Women’s Group as well as the Royal British Legion

Deputy Mayor Zaman said: “It was a very good gathering today of local people and professionals within the community.

"There is a huge problem. We need to do more to raise awareness such as this project, where people can get supported and signposted to the right service.”

Councillor Ali said: “This organisation and in particular today’s event is making people think about dementia – we have a long way to go. I believe that their work should be mainstreamed rather than work on the fringes.”

Abdul Hamied, NHS senior programme lead, said, “There is a lot of work taking place in this organisation and the challenge is how to make it successful and sustainable. We can not turn around some of these systemic issues in a few weeks, a few months or a few years.

"One of the aims of this organisation has been to be able to focus and make the impact and more fundamentally embrace the mainstream services.

"In a few years time, we want to see the NHS logo associated with CWTC.

"Health and inequality is a huge issue, and there is a huge opportunity to really make a change as part of the Greater Manchester Devolution."

Mohamed Sarwar, Chief Executive of CWTC, said: "We are planning to plan to host a number of programmes and courses in order to raise awareness of Dementia and support the local community.

"If you would like to get involved as an organisation, service, carer or user, please email: admin@cw-tc.co.uk"