Awareness Package
Two second year Occupational
Therapy Students, studying at Sheffield Hallam University, completed an 8-week
leadership placement at Manor Castle Development Trust. The main project was to help spread falls
prevention awareness for people all across Sheffield, working or living with
people who have memory problems or Dementia.
The students developed an awareness package of resources for community workers. The belief being that by providing easily accessible knowledge, community workers will be more aware of the risk of falls, and therefore able to educate and support families/carers.
Resources have been created that can be used for groups (such as at dementia friendly cafes) or on a 1:1 basis to assist raising awareness and understanding. The package includes information on a variety of falls subjects, discussion questions and sensory stimulation suggestions. Related activities have been suggested including paper activities, a quiz and other activities making this education interactive but also fun. It is hoped that the subjects can be covered in a bitesize format, and perhaps revisited at a later date with a varied approach.
In the long run, it is believed that this will benefit everyone, by providing meaningful activities to help understand the benefits this has on reducing falls for people living with dementia, education for families and carers, and also facilitators of groups.
A massive thank you to Lily Boyd and Zara Razzaq for their fabulous ideas and hard work. They are both shining examples of our future healthcare professionals.