When you stop to think about it local businesses have an important role to play in supporting vulnerable people in their community. This is especially true in a village like Laxey which has a strong sense of community of which residents are rightly proud.
The experience of Sonya Collister, manager of the EVF petrol station and shop provided her with a vivid reminder of how support can be needed. She and one other member of staff were in the busy forecourt shop one day when an elderly woman came in and ’started acting strangely’.
Sonya recalls: ’She was distressed and getting frustrated with herself and then she started taking her clothes off.’
Sonya realised that the woman must be from the nearby care home and tried gently to lead her back there, as she adds: ’As we went across the forecourt she suddenly lashed out. I wouldn’t say she physically hurt anyone but she was very volatile.’
The story ended well when they managed to contact a care worker from the home who came and collected the woman but as Sonya says: ’That was scary - that was very scary. I didn’t know what to do because to me it was just an old lady.’
It was to provide advice on recognising a customer with dementia, understanding the condition, and coping with more serious situations like the one Sonya encountered that Garff commissioners organised a training session with Susan Walker of the Alzheimer’s Society.
Housing manager Julie Peel arranged the training after attending a similar session for Onchan commissioners’ staff and realising that people from local businesses would benefit equally from it.
She said: ’We are a community and we are aware that there are vulnerable people in our community. People with dementia often go into a shop and forget where they are or what they have come in for. Or they will hand the shopkeeper their purse and let them take their money out.’
Manager of Laxey Co-op, Chris Bartlett, and his staff did the training. he said: ’Susan explained it all to us, the different types of dementia. We did an experiment on how people perceived dementia, what people think people with dementia can do and can’t do.’
Lindie Purcell from Cafe Noitre added: ’We’re a community cafe so we see a lot of the locals that support us on a daily basis. The training was very informative: it’s given us an insight into people with dementia and how to help them while they’re in our cafe.’
Sonya agreed, saying: ’I treat everybody with respect but it opened my eyes big time. You just look at each customer now and you know when there’s something not right.’
’It’s a Iovely place for community and everyone wanted to get on board’
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