We initially meet with the team in November 2023, who we found to be very open and committed to developing their knowledge and understanding how to support their customers and provide an environment that is friendly and welcoming to those people in our community living with Dementia. We enjoyed delivering a Dementia awareness training presentation to their teams at two of their pilot library sites in Glenview and St Andrews – we found staff to be very receptive, understanding, and willing to learn how to best communicate and where necessary support a person with dementia that may be presenting anxious or distressed, many of the staff had personal experiences to share and learn from each other.

As part of these sessions, we were able to discus and plan small environmental changes with furniture colours/contrast, lay out, signage and accessibility options to support ease of moving around and feeling safe in the library environment. We also had the rare opportunity to offer some free training spaces to key members of the library team to share in the EDIE (Educational Dementia Immersive Experience) through Alzheimer’s NZ Dementia Learning Centre alongside our Dementia Waikato and Dementia Lakes Advisors.

We enjoyed supporting the organisation in their Launch of Dementia Friendly libraries during brain awareness month in March 2024, where members of our Dementia advisor team were available to support the Kaupapa of Dementia friendly environments. We look forward to ongoing plans for how our organisations will continue to work together supporting our people living with Dementia and their Whanau, breaking down barriers and increasing socialization opportunities and for engagement and participation in their local communities.