A NEW meeting for people with dementia is being set up in Evesham thanks to a nationwide funding program.
In January 2020, Worcestershire County Council and the six Worcestershire County Councils announced that they would be investing £ 540,000 from the county’s Business Rates Retention Pilot to help local communities across the county set up dedicated dementia meeting centers, bringing the county to the forefront of this new way of serving those living with the disease and their families.
Although the coronavirus pandemic put the launch of the Worcestershire Meeting Centers Community Support Program on hold, three funding requests were approved at a January 2021 evaluation panel meeting of the University of Worcester and Worcestershire County Council and funding for another new center was planned for the facility in Evesham was approved at their meeting on April 30, 2021. All four successful applications were funded with up to £ 60,000 each to set up new meeting centers in Evesham, Worcester, Malvern Hills / Tenbury and Malvern Link.
Dorothy Wilson MBE, Fellow of the University of Worcester, the independent chair of the panel, said, “The panel was pleased to approve funding for another center and we now look forward to receiving the next series of proposals at our panel meeting to be assessed on July 30, 2021 for applications received by June 30, 2021. “
Sally Dance, the manager of the Evesham & District Mental Health Support Services (EDMHSS) charity that submitted the application for this new center, said, “We are delighted to receive this funding to set up this center in this area of the County, that covers my organization and we look forward to opening it as soon as the current situation allows. “
Meeting centers were originally developed in the Netherlands and brought to the UK by the University of Worcester’s Association for Dementia Studies. A meeting center is a local resource that operates out of common community buildings and provides ongoing warm and friendly expert support to people with mild to moderate dementia and their families. At the heart of the meeting center is a social club where people meet to have fun, talk to others, and get help focused on what they need. Meeting centers are based on in-depth research into what helps people adapt well to living with the symptoms and changes that dementia brings.
Hannah Perrott, associate director for communities at Worcestershire County Council, said, “We are delighted that assistance is being offered to help people with dementia and their families in another part of the county, and I look forward to further successful applications in the coming years months. “
Further applications can be submitted at any time until September 30, 2021. The application form and a number of supporting documents are available on the University of Worcester website at www.worc.ac.uk/wmccsp
If you have any questions about the program and the application process, please send an email to meetcentres@worc.ac.uk