It’s Dementia Action Week (Monday 17 to Sunday 23 May) and Debbie Smith, our longest-serving dementia and delirium assistant (DDA), has shared why she is so passionate about what she does.

She said: “The most important thing is to be with the patients and it’s what I love best about my job. We have some real characters. It’s important that we give them stimulation, and encourage them to get up out of bed each day.”

Our team of DDAs are there to support our patients with dementia and delirium and their families and their role includes anything from; filling in a This is me form, of a patients’ likes and dislikes; spending time chatting with them and reassuring them; doing interactive activities; and helping them with personal care such as shaving or painting their nails.

Our team was especially pleased to reinstate some activities this week, including tea parties, funded by our charity, and colouring in, which had been put on hold due to Covid-19 with just a few tweaks to keep everyone safe.

Debbie (pictured top, far right), who lives in Hainault, added: “Everything we use on the wards is disposable now and when we hold tea parties, we take a trolley of treats to each patient’s bedside rather than seating everyone together.

“Our patients have really appreciated the activities we’ve been holding this week and it’s been fun for us too. I think it takes a certain sort of person to work with dementia patients, they can be challenging, but I like that, you need to be passionate about it.”

Patient Eileen Reeves (pictured below), 89, enjoyed a soft drink and cake from the tea party trolley and was full of praise for the DDAs who delivered it, she said: “They are marvelous and really look after you. It was a nice surprise to get a treat this afternoon too.”

Debbie has been at our Trust for five years, and worked with dementia patients in the community for 14 years before that. It was her own experience of helping to care for her father when he had dementia that made her want to help provide the best possible care for these patients.

She said: “Eventually as he deteriorated we had to put him in a residential home and when I went to visit, everyone would be sitting there doing nothing, just staring at the floor. My dad loved football, so I would take a soft ball and encourage him to give it a kick with his good leg, and get the other patients involved.”

After being re-deployed during the pandemic, Debbie, who has five grandchildren, is glad to be back doing what she loves best: “At first during the pandemic I was terrified of bringing Covid home and affecting my grandchildren.

“It was very difficult to see so many patients dying and often without their families beside them. I held a lot of hands and cried so much. It was tough to start but it did get easier and by the end I enjoyed it. It was rewarding to be able keep families updated on their loved ones.”

Pictured top are DDAs Lailah Sainudin, Nikki Bruce and Debbie, with their trolley of treats for Dementia Action Week.