Crawley dementia supporter sets to work in providing help in the community

Parveen Khan has a South Asian background and speaks Urdu/Hindi and Pahari. Mrs Khan has a coherent understanding of the variety of South Asian communities in Crawley through her community work over many years.

The West Sussex County Council Joint Dementia Strategy 20-23 aims to provide inclusive opportunities and services, provide a framework for people to live in inclusive and compassionate communities, reduce inequalities, to develop services and initiatives that enable people with dementia and their families to live their fullest lives in West Sussex.

The strategy established that people from ethnic groups were very much under-represented in dementia services and these communities were not accessing the services early on, which meant that support would sometimes be ‘too late.’

Mrs Khan said: “Dementia within the south Asian community is still not recognised and there are other barriers such as language, stigma, shame attached as well as the lack of recognition that people who care for loved ones are carers,”

Her role at Carers Support West Sussex focuses on the pre-diagnosis of dementia and post-care for both the carer and their family.

Carers Support CEO Sonia Mangan said: “We are delighted to be able to support the Crawley community with our Bilingual Memory Navigator.

“This pioneering role will have a positive impact in raising the profile of dementia services available and highlight the importance of being an early point of contact for those caring for someone with dementia”.

Parveen has received a great response from carers about the many services available via Carers Support West Sussex and has been asked for callbacks, a home visit as well as information about accessing benefits, grants, emotional support as well counselling, and carer groups. Mrs Khan’s work will officially be launched with a celebration event at Tamasha Restaurant in Crawley on November 19 with food and speakers. Carers and families are invited.

Carers Support West Sussex is an independent charity supporting some of the 89,000 family and friend carers living in West Sussex. Registered charity number: 1123359.

See more: Crawley Borough Council approves long-term funding of Citizens Advice services in the town, Crawley-based counselling charity celebrates its 60th anniversary with the town’s mayor, Cost of living crisis: Crawley food bank fights back against poverty from a broom cupboard

If you are an unpaid family or friend carer of someone living with dementia or memory loss and would like further support or information, please call: 0300 028 8888 or visit: www.carerssupport.org.uk