Rotarian Mo Andrews spoke to the club this week to give us an update on our Purbeck Admiral Nurse, partly supported by Swanage & Purbeck Rotary, who came to speak to us at a meeting in 2018 and has now been in post for 18 months.
Most appointed Admiral Nurses are associated with care homes and healthcare institutions, but Rachel Murray is the first community Admiral Nurse in the UK. Rachel works with more than 50 families through casework, but that is only part of the job as, amongst other things, she provides help, support, consultancy and supervisory duties within her very busy schedule.
There are as estimated 13,653 people suffering with dementia in Dorset, the vast majority of which are over 65, but 548 are between 30 and 64 years old. Rachel works with multiple family members in many cases and between 18 and 37 families at any one time.
The service has an average of 10 new referrals per month. The vast majority of these come from GP practices and social services.
On behalf of the club, Rotarian Susan Treadwell thanked Mo sincerely for a very uplifting and thought provoking address.
More information can be found at the Dementia Action Alliance Swanage Dementia Friendly Community website.