Singing for the brain to help those suffering from Alzheimer's (From Dorset Echo)

Singing for the brain to help those suffering from Alzheimer's

10:50am Thursday 9th July 2009

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A PROJECT to help people suffering from Alzheimer’s is to be extended in south and west Dorset.

The Alzheimer’s Society has won funding for the Singing for the Brain project in Weymouth, Dorchester and Bridport.

People with dementia, their carers and volunteers socialise, and join in activities and singing at the sessions.

The success comes during Alzheimer’s Awareness Week, which ends on Saturday July 11.

Malcolm Cumber, who is branch manager for South Dorset and Bridport Alzheimer’s Society, said: “It is fantastic.

“It means that we can provide the service that people are asking for.”

The branch gained a grant from the Dorset Partnership for Older People’s Project towards the £5,000 cost. The Singing in the Brain sessions help in exercising people’s mental agility as well as offering support.

Mr Cumber’s mother Jean has cared full time for his father Jim since he was diagnosed with vascular dementia about five years ago.

Mr Cumber said: “The purpose of the week is to make people more aware of problems associated with dementia and dispel some of the myths around it.

“Lots of people think that there is a cure but there isn’t.

“People don’t realise that it is a disease and not a natural part of getting older.”

One in three people aged over 65 will die of dementia, according to the Alzheimer’s Society.

A report from Dementia UK in 2007 also found that there were 6,673 people with dementia in Dorset, not including Bournemouth and Poole.

That is predicted to rise to 8,632 in 2017 and 9,624 in 2021.

Mr Cumber said that the report found that Dorset had one of the highest percentages of people living with dementia in the country.

The society also runs a walking group with the community mental health team for people in the early stages of memory loss.

Contact 01305 259740.

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