The ASI opened a new Memory Cafe in Macroom on Monday, 22nd April in The Next-Door Café in the Castle Hotel Macroom. This project was spearheaded by Friends of ASI Macroom. Minister of State for Mental Health and Older People Mary Butler TD will officially open the Cafe.
This marks the next step in The ASI’s commitment to creating supports and services for people living with dementia and their families in Macroom. In April 2023, The ASI’s Friends of ASI hosted a Dementia-Inclusive Community event in Macroom which led to the creation of Friends of ASI Macroom, a group of local leaders dedicated to creating a dementia-inclusive town.
The Friends of ASI is a dementia-inclusive programme. It includes training, awareness, education, and services, and aims to encourage people, businesses, and services to create a more nurturing and accepting environment for people living with dementia and their families in their community. People living with dementia are among the most marginalised in our society and can often face social exclusion and stigma.
This initiative is working alongside the HSE’s Dementia: Understand Together campaign. Dementia: Understand Together, a national partnership between The ASI, HSE, Age Friendly Ireland, Age & Opportunity, Dementia Services Information, and Development Centre, and Healthy Ireland, encourages community members and people living with dementia to make their communities more dementia-inclusive.
Memory Cafes provide a warm and welcoming space for people with dementia, their family and friends, and social and health care professionals to meet, and exchange ideas and learnings. Usually, an expert speaker is invited each month to talk to the Cafe about a topic of interest. The cafe is also a space to chat and enjoy a social occasion in a supportive environment.
Marian Kelleher, whose husband Tadhg lives with dementia and accesses ASI Services said: “It’s great for us to have a place to pop in and have a tea and talk to people going through the same situation. It’s really lovely, and it’ll give us an opportunity to socialise with people.” The Cafe is based on an international model and usually opens monthly in the early evening. Some cafes open during the day, and all provide light refreshments and a mix of education and support.
Minister of State Mary Butler TD said: “As Minister for Older People with responsibility for dementia, I have been working to improve the community services and supports available to people with dementia and their families throughout Ireland. I am delighted to continuously provide the Alzheimer Society of Ireland with funding to support the rollout of Memory Cafés and dementia-specific day centres. The Macroom Memory Café will provide invaluable information on topics related to dementia, while also providing social contact and peer support to people with dementia and their families in a welcoming environment. Currently, we are striving to make Macroom a dementia-inclusive community and this Memory Café is another step towards reaching this goal.”
Head of Operations and Community Engagement at The ASI, Siobhan O’Connor, said: “It’s an honour for me to open any service, and it’s a special bonus when it’s my hometown. I want to thank the Friends of ASI Macroom for taking the lead on this and creating a safe space for people living with dementia and their families in Macroom to come and spend some time with people in similar situations. Living with the condition can be a lonely experience, so having this space every month can be a great outlet for people. A special thanks to Rory Buckley and his staff at The Castle Hotel for opening their doors to us. What a difference a year has made, and it just shows what can be achieved when a community responds, I am so proud of the range of services now available in the Macroom area for People living with Dementia and their families.
An estimated 7,509 people live with dementia in Cork, and 63% of people with dementia live in the community in Ireland.
For more information on our supports and services during this challenging time, please contact The Alzheimer Society of Ireland National Helpline. The Helpline is open six days a week, Monday to Friday, 10 am – 5 pm and Saturday, 10 am – 4 pm, on 1800 341 341. Email at helpline@alzheimer.ie or via Live Chat at www.alzheimer.ie
