Dementia Helpline Seeks New Volunteers

IMMEDIATE RELEASE
To: News/Health/Community Editors

Alzheimer Scotland is looking for volunteers to staff its Dementia Helpline 0808 808 3000, which provides people with information and support about dementia.

The Helpline needs people who are good listeners, can give accurate information, have a personal or professional interest in dementia and can spare some time - this could be during the day, in the evenings, overnight or at weekends.

Volunteers can work from home anywhere in Scotland, or at Alzheimer Scotland’s National Office in Edinburgh. With calls received from all over Scotland, helpline volunteers can help make a difference both locally and to those further afield.

There are places available on Alzheimer Scotland’s four-day training course, which takes place in Edinburgh over two weekends, Saturday 25 & Sunday 26 February and Saturday 18 & Sunday 19 March 2006. These weekends will provide volunteers with the knowledge they need to become helpline volunteers as well as being a chance to meet new people and develop new skills.

The Dementia Helpline has been running for over sixteen years and has helped over 45,000 callers. It is a rapidly expanding service, which now takes around 5,500 calls a year. For many, the Helpline is the first place to turn when they are told a diagnosis of dementia. It plays a key role in providing carers, relatives and people with dementia with emotional support and information, as well as putting people in touch with local services and support.

Maruska Greenwood, Helpline Manager, says:

“The freephone Dementia Helpline provides direct access to information and emotional support, 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, for people with dementia, their carers, relatives and friends, and for professionals in the dementia field. This vital service is staffed entirely by volunteers. Volunteers on the Helpline come from all walks of life, but share an interest in dementia and a desire to help carers and families cope with the effects of the illness. Many have experience of caring for a relative with dementia or work with carers or people with dementia. Previous knowledge of the illness is however not essential to becoming a volunteer on the Helpline.”

Please give our Freephone 24hr Dementia Helpline telephone number: 0808 808 3000 and our website address: www.alzscot.org at the end of articles.

Contact details:

Sarah Bromley, PR & Marketing Manager, tel 0131 243 1453, mob 07966 458 869, sbromley@alzscot.org
Jim Jackson, Chief Executive, tel 0131 243 1453, mob 07747 025 041, jjackson@alzscot.org

Notes for the Editor:

Dementia affects approximately 63,000 people in Scotland.
Alzheimer’s disease is the main form of dementia. The second most common is vascular dementia. As yet there is no cure.

Alzheimer Scotland is Scotland’s foremost voluntary organisation working for people with dementia and their carers. It:

• speaks out for the rights and concerns of people with dementia and their carers;
• operates services on over 60 sites throughout Scotland providing practical services such as day, evening and weekend centres, home care and befriending and carers' support services;
• provides the 24 hour national freephone Dementia Helpline (0808 808 3000);
• provides the website www.alzscot.org;
• supports a network of over 40 carers' support groups;
• provides information to carers, professionals and people with dementia;
• publishes leaflets, booklets, reports and a quarterly newsletter keeping carers and professionals up-to-date
• has a research programme.