PETS at Home Cirencester is working with Alzheimer’s Society to make shopping a more comfortable experience for customers with dementia

Over the course of Dementia Action Week, colleagues and customers in Cirencester and across the country raised more than £50,000 for Alzheimer’s Society, through sales of pin badges, ‘round to a pound’ and in store fundraising activities including bake sales.

The money raised will be used towards supporting the work of Alzheimer’s Society to provide information and support, fund research, campaign to improve care and create lasting change for people affected by dementia in England, Wales and Northern Ireland.

Alzheimer’s Society’s Dementia Friends programme is the biggest ever initiative to change people’s perceptions of dementia, and aims to transform the way the nation thinks, acts and talks about this condition.

All colleagues will become Dementia Friends to help better assist customers who may be living with dementia, and will have the knowledge and confidence to approach and help customers who are shopping by themselves or with a loved one.

This has been rolled out nationwide following one employee’s personal experience with the condition. Mike Carey, 37, deputy manager at the Pets at Home store in Foss Island, York, recommended the initiative following his mother’s diagnosis at just 56 years old.

Mike became a Dementia Friend independently, aiming to raise awareness amongst his immediate colleagues and, if possible, further afield within Yorkshire’s Pets at Home stores.

After hearing Mike’s story, Pets at Home’s CEO, Peter Pritchard, recognised the importance of the initiative and the Dementia Friends was implemented nationwide.

Store manager, Graham Ferguson, says: “The team and I in Cirencester would like to say a massive thank you to all of our customers for their support with the campaign and their generous donations towards Alzheimer’s Society.

“Following the Dementia Friends training, our team will be more confident in assisting customers exhibiting behaviours commonly associated with the condition, and we really hope that customers and families who are affected by dementia will feel welcomed and comfortable whilst shopping in our store.”

Emma Bould, Programme Partnerships Manager at Alzheimer’s Society, said: “Everyone at Alzheimer’s Society would like to say a huge thank you the colleagues and customers at Pets at Home for their invaluable donations.

”In the UK, one person develops dementia every three minutes and almost everyone knows someone whose life has been affected. Yet too many people face the condition alone, without adequate support.

"At Alzheimer’s Society we are determined to change this, as it is vital that people living with dementia feel included in their local community and able to live the lives they want.

"Something as simple as store colleagues, as well as other customers, being a bit more patient will make a huge difference to the day to day lives of people living with dementia.”

Over 2.4million people in the UK have become Dementia Friends since the launch of the initiative. To find out more about Alzheimer’s Society’s Dementia Friends and get involved, please visit dementiafriends.org.uk