To Absent Friends Week 2020 – Dementia
1:4 of all people who have died from coronavirus are people with dementia and many people who have been bereaved in the last year will also be people with dementia. Below are some resources to support people with dementia who are either dying or bereaved.
Hope for Home:
Is a national charity which aims to ensure that people with dementia are able to die in their own homes. The charity undertakes projects to develop new models of care to facilitate this aim, details of some of these can be found on the Hospice for Home website. In the interview below, CEO, Sarah Burnard, explains what the charity does
The National Institute on Aging:
This American organisation has produced a number of helpful publications including ‘Providing Care and Comfort at the end of Life’ further details can be found at
Hospice Enabled Dementia Care:
This publication is the result of a piece of work funded by Hope for Home and aims to bring the wisdom and experience of hospice care into the end of life care of people with dementia – it can be downloaded freely on
https://www.hospiceuk.org/what-we-offer/clinical-and-care-support/hospice-enabled-dementia-care#
Hospice UK:
Is the national umbrella charity for charitable hospices. The organisation has produced a number of resources regarding the end of life care of people with dementia including featuring the National Council for Palliative Care publication ‘ How would I know? What can I do? How to help someone with dementia who is in pain or distress? . They also provide a community of practice in partnership with Dementia UK, all of these resources and more can be found on the Hospice UK website at https://www.hospiceuk.org
Bereavement Support:
The Alzheimer’s Society has developed a number of resources and reports linked specifically to issues raised by the pandemic but also resources on bereavement including guidelines in ‘Supporting a person with dementia during bereavement’ see