Stephanie Doherty, co-owner and joint director of Oldham home care provider, Caremark (Oldham & Tameside) has been unanimously elected as Chair of the Oldham Dementia Action Alliance.

The Alliance comprises a number of partners involved in social care dedicated to creating a Dementia Friendly town. This move clearly demonstrates the importance of creating a dementia friendly community in Oldham through meaningful partnership working between the Local Authority, Clinical Care Commissioning Group, local businesses and Caremark (Oldham & Tameside).

Caremark provide bespoke care and support to vulnerable individuals at home, enabling them to continue living safely and independently in their own environment. A proportion of their clients already have or will develop Alzheimer’s disease or dementia related conditions.

Areas for priority of the ODAA for 2015 will include continuing to work towards creating a dementia friendly community in Oldham through:

• Increasing dementia awareness in the community, in particular South Asian communities
• Increasing intergenerational activities
• Continuing to ensure Dementia Friends sessions are widely available in Oldham
• Increasing engagement with a range of local businesses through membership of the Dementia Action Alliance

The Oldham care provider has already delivered a number of Dementia Friends information sessions resulting in 150 Dementia Friends of the 200 aimed for, being created in their local community.