Patrick Dunlop - Emergency Care Assistant

I was absolutely delighted when I heard that Yorkshire Ambulance Service was aiming to achieve dementia-friendly status by 2022, as I have very personal experience of how the condition affects those living with it.

Firstly, my grandmother Goggie was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease, which is one of several types of dementia, back in the 1990s. In those days, there was a huge stigma surrounding dementia and it was something that people didn’t want to talk about. As a result, my family didn’t get any support and no-one really understood what we were going through.

When we took Goggie out for a walk or a cup of tea, she would often get funny looks and you got the feeling that people were talking about her, which was very difficult to deal with.

As my brother, sister and I were still quite young, my parents didn’t have the option of looking after Goggie full-time and reluctantly had to move her into a care home. Unfortunately, the staff weren’t trained in how to look after people living with dementia and it was a similar situation when she had to go to hospital.

Naturally, we were devastated when she passed away, but felt a sense of relief at the same time. She was no longer suffering.

A few years down the line, I was given the opportunity to work for a charity which supports people affected by dementia in York and North Yorkshire. I jumped at the chance to join the team at Dementia Forward and I’m so glad that I did. Its dedicated staff and volunteers are there to talk, listen and understand what people are going through, as well as helping them to actually live well with dementia.

Alongside this extremely rewarding work, I’ve been part of the team at YAS for several years. I started as a Community First Responder in Harrogate and I’m now an Emergency Care Assistant based in Pateley Bridge. On several occasions, I’ve helped patients affected by dementia and also seen how caring and understanding my colleagues are when treating them. So, I firmly believe that YAS is already well on the road to becoming dementia-friendly.

I also know that Goggie would be incredibly proud of the work which YAS, Dementia Forward and other organisations like them are doing in communities across Yorkshire.

Charles and Margaret 'Goggie' Dunlop