The Dementia Hwb has now been open for 1 month in the former Thornton’s shop in The Quadrant. We have managed to staff it and to be open every single day 11:00-15:00, with the exception of Friday 18th February due to Storm Eunice. During these hours we have helped more than 220 visitors.
The Visitors
Recorded visitors include those who interacted with a volunteer, therefore visitors who did not talk to us were not recorded i.e. walked in to pick up a leaflet and left.
The Hwb has reached a range of people including; carers (36%), those seeking information on behalf of a friend or family member (18%), individuals diagnosed with dementia (17%), or seeking a diagnosis (14%), local support (10%), and former carers who did not receive the support they needed, prior to the cared for passing away (5%).
Visitors have sought an array of information examples including;
With this information we have worked hard to direct visitors to the best suited organisations for their specific needs. Many visitors wanted to have a chat about their situation with the volunteers, and know that they are not alone.
We have also started to collect further demo-geographic information on a Feedback from. Of the completed forms, slightly more females than males have visited (56% vs 44%), and age 60+ visitors account for 45%, whilst 18-35yrs and 46-60yrs are both around 22% and 36-45yrs are around 11% of visitors. There has been a spread of visitors from SA1-SA5 postcodes mainly.
The Hwb is Extending Until The End of March
The lease on the property has been extended for our use until 31st March, which is also when the current funding from Winter of Wellbeing for Over50s runs out. There is availability for us to continue if funding comes through quickly.
Volunteers
We have now developed a volunteer guide to work to provide consistent information to every visitor and we have tried to engage with all interested organisations to ensure we have as much information in one place as possible.
In The News
There have been some press generating visitors to the Hwb such as the Lord-Lieutenant of West Glamorgam, The Lord Mayor and Sioned Williams MS/AM and will be making a date with the High Sheriff of West Glamorgan.
In response to visitor feedback that we need to have more exposure the marketing on social media has been increasing and we have just invested in an awareness campaign on The Wave which will be starting very soon.