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To spread an understanding about Alzheimer's disease and reduce the stigma amongst their peers, families and wider community.
Our Social Issue
Alzheimer's disease and the stigma associated with it.
Why We Chose It
We chose dementia as the focus for our project because many grandparents of students in our school and parents/relatives of staff in our school have dementia. We feel dementia is not talked about enough in society today. There is often a lack of awareness and understanding of dementia, resulting in stigmatisation and isolation for those suffering with dementia and their caregivers/family.
Our Goal
The real world social issue we have chosen for our project is dementia. The goal for our project is to reduce the stigma that is attached to dementia in our community.
Our Innovative Action
We surveyed our school community to find out more about what our community knew about dementia/their experiences to date. All of our class complete the 5 modules of the Alzheimer's Society of Ireland's e-learning programme 'Creating a Dementia Inclusive Generation'. This is a peer educator programme meaning on completion we were qualified to teach our school community about dementia. We used our key learning on this programme to develop a lesson to teach to every class in our school. We also liaised with a local nursing home and brought gifts to the residents.
Our Impact
We believe we have made a positive difference as we have increased knowledge and awareness about dementia in our community. By increasing education and knowledge about the disease we have broken down not only our own stereotypes around dementia but those of our peers too. We have also made contact with and engaged with people who are experiencing dementia in our community and their caregivers and made a positive impact on their lives by delivering gifts and cards to them and showing they are valuable members of society.