A GROUP of employees and apprentices from a social housing group have been given dementia-friendly training to help them support vulnerable residents.

Incommunities apprentices and construction managers were given the training to raise awareness of the group’s customers who suffer from dementia.

The training for the 27 staff covers the best ways to learn about the needs of customers with dementia and their carers.

More than 100 Incommunities’ staff and customers have so far been given training with the support of the Alzheimer’s Society.

The short courses have been run by Incommunities’ housing colleagues Tracy Tough and Kelly Hargreaves, who have been trained as dementia champions to raise awareness among Incommunities’ frontline staff and customer groups in the Bradford district.

Kelly said: “Dementia is a growing challenge nationally and as a group serving 55,000 customers we want to make sure staff, including our young apprentices, are able to support all our vulnerable customers in the best way possible.”

Plastering apprentice Keeley McIntyre was among the Incommunities’ apprentices to receive the dementia-friendly training and said the sessions had given her an insight into dealing with people who have the condition.

She said: “My partner’s grandad has dementia so I know how important it is to respect and understand the needs of people with dementia.

“This training has given me a real insight into how we can help our customers when we go into their homes.”

Geraldine Howley, Incommunities’ group chief executive, said the training had proved important to her group’s staff.

She said: “Our staff regularly come into contact with customers with different physical and emotional needs.

“This training is an important step in ensuring we are able to make the lives of people living with dementia, including their carers, better and help them to continue to live independently for as long as possible.

“As an organisation we are determined to become a dementia-friendly housing provider and make a positive difference across our communities.”

Incommunities provides affordable homes, principally for rent, in neighbourhoods across the Bradford district.

The group, based in Victoria Street, Shipley, owns almost 21,300 homes for rent and has nearly 1,000 leasehold properties.

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