‘Dementia link to sudden low blood pressure and dizziness’
October 13, 2024
A NEW scheme offering specialist support to the carers and families of young people living with dementia was launched in West Berkshire week last.
Rikki Lorenti is not only Berkshire’s first Admiral Nurse – supporting carers and the families of people diagnosed with dementia – he is the first one in the country trained specifically to work with carers and families of people with the disease under 65 years old.
The Admiral Nurses programme is run by Dementia UK which has teamed up with Younger People With Dementia (YPWD) Berkshire West to provide the new local service with funding raised through The Health Lottery.
Mr Lorenti is working at the memory clinics in Reading, Wokingham and Newbury, offering a variety of services to carers, from helping them deal with a loved one’s diagnosis to supporting them if the patient has to go into full-time care.
An estimated 240 people under 65 have dementia in Berkshire West, and Mr Lorenti emphasised that younger people face different challenges when diagnosed, including losing their jobs, still having dependent children and financial uncertainty.
He said: “I am very privileged to be part of what I hope will develop into an established service that will provide support, care and respite to a very unique group of people.
“It is about supporting the carers through the changes and challenges they face and providing enough information, resources and support to try and relieve some of their problems.”
Peter Watson, trustees chairman at YPWD Berkshire West, left his job to become a full-time carer when his wife was diagnosed with dementia at 59 in 2007.
He said: “It is fantastic to be able to provide support that has not been available before. Now we have Rikki in place he can help people find the support that is appropriate for them and supply that support directly himself.
“It will be very different from when my wife was diagnosed and I had to fight through the murk to find things out for myself.”
Call the memory clinic on 0118 949 5101 or email Rikki Lorenti at rikki.lorenti@ypwd.info.
Source The Reading Chronicle