1. Changing Lives In our Community
Rklhona MacSween, Rebecca Hobbart , Kieran Cameron, Hamza Buhari, Mohammad Aboobaker , Hong Duong, Ming Hong Leung, Kian , Naim Paraouty
Rhona MacSween, Rebecca Hobbart , Kieran Cameron, Hamza Buhari, Mohammad Aboobaker , Hong Duong, Ming Hong Leung, Kian , Naim Paraouty - Boots
Introduction
Impact of the event
As part of the Boots pre-registration training we were tasked with a project to help improve the lives in our community. To do this we had to identify the local health and well-being needs in our area. With a group of fellow Boots Pre-registration Pharmacists, we discussed and designed an event that would engage the local community in a positive way. This could have been a raffle or fundraiser or even just an information session. During the event we needed to make sure we obtained feedback, attendance numbers and engagement levels of the public. Subsequently, we had to evaluate the project to look at how much it benefited the community.
During this event, we received a lot of positive feedback from the people we spoke to. They mainly talked about how it was great what we were doing, and they thought it was important to raise awareness. These were the people who had been affected by dementia in their own family. For others they said the information was very useful and that they learnt a lot they had no idea about. We feel this mainly came from the “5 things you should know about dementia” which had incredibly useful information about how dementia was not a natural part of aging and how people can live well with dementia. There were also good attendance numbers. From our 3 events we had over 200 people stop and talk to us about dementia. That is 200 more people who are dementia aware and know where to go for help and support if they need it.
We would say that the engagement from the public was better than expected as it is often difficult for people to take the time to talk to people on the street, but we feel that because we were not asking for donations it made people more likely to come and speak to us and take away information. We also had people wanting to donate to the Alzheimer UK society which was very touching. Some members of the public also just stopped to tell us their story about their experience with dementia, be it their own diagnosis, or their care of a loved one, and highlighted the importance of listening to people and their stories, as opposed to just advising people.
The impact in store was great; checking that we made sure that all stores were dementia friendly and had no bright lights or black mats at the door which could discourage dementia patients for coming in. By the combination of stores, we were able to get over 50 people trained to become dementia friends which will have a significant impact on our communities
Identifying Local Health Needs
To help look for what topics would have the biggest and most beneficial impact on the community, we looked at the type of medication and medical conditions that were most prevalent in our community e.g. hypertension, dementia or diabetes. We also looked at local charities and support services that were available so that we could signpost the people we spoke to. Whilst researching, one of the students mentioned that someone in their family suffered from dementia, and that triggered the decision to have a dementia awareness day. It is estimatated that by 2025 more than one million people in the UK will be living with dementia, and with over 52% of over 60 year olds saying that Alzheimer’s is the disease that they are more concerned about, we felt it was time to break the taboo and talk about dementia.
We noticed that medications for dementia were going out quite regularly with donepezil being the most common. During this time, there was also an article in the Pharmaceutical Journal discussing ways that pharmacists can contribute to helping the needs of those suffering from dementia. We also looked at local charities and support groups and found that Alzheimer Scotland had centers in Aberdeen, Dundee & Inverness with a lot of support groups within the area such as group dementia cafes.
Evaluation
This event really benefited the local community. We spoke to people who had family and friends that either had dementia or were concerned about it and we were able to provide them with information on signs and symptoms and signpost them to places where they could get support and advice on the condition. We even had an elderly gentleman who came up to the event in Dundee concerned about having dementia but was concerned that he would be wasting the GP’s time. The Dundee trainees were able to encourage him to visit by comparing getting a mental health check to getting your blood pressure checked if you were concerned; the doctor would not consider it a waste of time. This convinced him that he should get checked. We had people come up who had little to no knowledge about dementia and we were able to coach them about how common it was, some of the signs which hopefully when they notice in community they will be more patient with them.
As a pre-registration pharmacist this event has allowed us to realise just how many people are affected by dementia in our communities. It has also allowed us to consolidate our knowledge surrounding dementia, the different types and better recognise the signs in our communities so that we can tailor our care by being more patient centered and understanding when helping patients in the pharmacy.