Pet shop staff trained to help dementia customers

Staff at Pets At Home are being better trained to help those living with dementia.

As it is Dementia Action Week, the retailer has partnered with dementia charity the Alzheimer’s Society’s Dementia Friends programme.

Staff at the Kirkcaldy store will become Dementia Friends to help better assist customers who may be living with dementia, and will have the knowledge and confidence to approach and help customers who are shopping by themselves or with a loved one.

Store manager, Lauren Denholm, said: “Our teams always do their best to offer friendly expertise and advice to customers.

“Following the Dementia Friends training, our team will be confident in recognising the signs of the condition, and we really hope that customers and families who are affected by dementia will feel welcomed and comfortable whilst shopping in our store.”

Claire Jenkins, Head of Community Engagement at Alzheimer’s Society, said: “It’s fantastic that Pets at Home has committed to the action of supporting their colleagues to become Dementia Friends and it’s a perfect way to mark Dementia Action Week. We hope this encourages other retailers in the UK to do the same.

”In the UK, one person develops dementia every three minutes and almost everyone knows someone whose life has been affected. Too many people face the condition alone, without adequate support. At Alzheimer’s Society we are determined to change this.”