Dementia Charity Partners with SGN to Help Tackle Fuel Poverty

In a bid to improve the safety and wellbeing of people living with dementia in their homes, the West Sussex dementia support charity Sage House has partnered with gas distribution company SGN to further expand its support.

The numbers of people living with dementia are very much on the rise. As dementia progresses, families need to access a wide range of support - emotional, social and financial - as well as access to care. Sage House runs a Wayfinding service which enables people living with dementia, their families and carers to access the information, advice and support they might need from pre-diagnosis through to the loss of a loved one and beyond.

The two-year partnership with SGN which launches this month will include resources and training for Sage House Wayfinders to help people living with dementia maintain a safe and warm home by using energy safely, efficiently and affordably.

Sage House Wayfinding teams will be promoting key safety services including the gas safe locking cooker valve as well as helping people living with dementia sign up to the Priority Services Register.

In the last two years, more of the people being supported by Sage House have had to make choices between heating their home and buying food, this was especially prevalent over winter as cost of living and energy costs grew. It is hoped that the new partnership will help to alleviate some of these issues.

The team will also be looking to provide people living with dementia with advice on how to keep affordably warm and including emergency fuel vouchers for households in energy crisis and take-home warm packs.

Sage House Chief Operations Officer, Emma Radley said: “People living with dementia, their families and carers face many challenges. Alongside the behaviour changes and anxiety caused by dementia, they have to navigate a complex and fragmented health and social care system. This partnership will enable us to help people with dementia and their carers to remain safe and well in their own homes and will alleviate a huge source of concern”.

Janet Duggan, Community Partnership from SGN said: “We’re delighted to launch this partnership with Sage House, the service goes above and beyond our core responsibilities as a Gas Distribution Network, and will provide much needed energy crisis support, access to energy efficiency and gas safety advice, empowering vulnerable households to use energy safely, efficiently, and affordably”.

For further information about the services provided at Sage House, visit www.dementiasupport.org.uk or telephone 01243 888691.