Dementia Friendly Coastal Towns in East Devon COMMUNITY The coastal towns of Budleigh Salterton, Exmouth, Seaton and Sidmouth are located in East Devon.

CONTEXT

 Individually, these towns have been developing dementia friendly communities in different ways and in March 2015 decided to come together to form an overarching alliance to work together and create an area which is dementia friendly.

 The scheme is in it’s early days, and so far has 9 members on the committee, including rep- resentatives from: Home Instead Care, Budleigh Salterton Medical Practice, Devon Senior Voice—Exmouth, Sid-Valley Memory Café, Sidmouth Lions, Sidmouth Rotary Club and Seaton Memory Café.

THE JOURNEY SO FAR

 The committee have chosen to sign up as a Dementia Action Alliance and are laying the foundations to register their interest to become nationally recognised.

 Individually, each of the four towns were interested in becoming Dementia Friendly and pro- gressing at different paces. The formation of a Dementia Action Alliance will help add struc- ture and purpose to the initiatives and allow the sharing of best practice.

WHAT HAVE WE LEARNT?

 Many communities would like to start a dementia friendly initiative but lack the resources to build a steering group and co-ordinate the work effectively. By collaborating and working together in an alliance of Dementia Friendly Town groups, it is possible to build on existing strengths, share best practice and support a larger number of people living with dementia and their carers and families.

LINKS & RESOURCES

Dementia Action Alliance: http://www.dementiaaction.org.uk/ To contact your local Memory Café phone: Exmouth - 01395 223050 Budleigh Salterton - 01395 441212 Sidmouth - 01395 55394 Seaton - 07827 813776