A DEMENTIA-friendly town will welcome a veteran broadcaster to celebrate their advances in protecting some of the region’s most vulnerable residents.

An event has been organised to celebrate the “huge effort” made by Porthmadog locals to ensure that their premises are ‘dementia-friendly’.

The event will be hosted by the Porthmadog Dementia Friendly Steering Group who have invited broadcaster Beti George to share her experiences and thoughts around the condition.

Beti cared for her late husband, sports commentator, TV current affairs presenter and writer, David Parry-Jones. David was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s in 2009 and since then Beti has made several programmes to raise awareness of the disease through Welsh media.

Dementia Friendly Communities is an Alzheimer’s Society initiative which is supported by the Welsh Government but driven by volunteers.

Porthmadog has a steering group made up of local people who work with organisations, community groups, services and residents to make changes that can help support people living with dementia in the community.

The event will take place at 6pm on Friday, 20 April at Porthmadog Football Club.

Beti and Emma Quaeck, DementiaGo project manager and chairperson for the group, will host an interview and the local DementiaGo physical activity class participants will give a demonstration of the type of exercises they still enjoy.

Emma said: “A dementia-friendly community is one where people living with dementia and their carers can continue to live well and do the things they are used to doing, knowing that people around them understand, have patience and are willing to help and support.

“Often when people get the diagnosis they lose confidence or are afraid of going out as things can be very difficult for them. They can then become very isolated and lonely. This can be difficult for carers too. However, if people in the community are happy to learn a little more about the disease and the little things that they can do to make things easier for people, then that can only be a good thing.”

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