More than 4,000 people in Kirklees have dementia. Nurses Michelle McGowan and Peter Walker are the Admiral Nurses caring for them. Here they speak about their roles – plus Meltham’s Philip and Pat Gerrard talk about how Michelle and Peter enhance the way they cope after Alzheimer’s touched their own lives. JOANNE DOUGLAS reports.

THE onset of dementia can be a worrying time – not just for the patient but equally for their family, friends and carers.

It could be a future of uncertainty, tests, referrals, medication and hospital visits.

But there’s a team which aims to help people continue their lives with all the help and support they need – and that team consists of two nurses and a support worker.

Michelle McGowan and Peter Walker are both mental health nurses who specialise in dementia. They’re better known as Admiral Nurses and they work with the 4,100 people in Kirklees already diagnosed with dementia.

Michelle, a nurse since 1990, and Peter, a former builder and miner, has been a nurse for six years but volunteered in dementia care for many years.

Michelle said: “It’s easy for us to put a number on the people we know about, and two thirds of the 4,100 people we work with are in the community.

“But there will be many people we don’t know about, people who don’t recognise it or don’t want to.”

Peter added: “What makes the service so unique is we support patients, their carers over the transition period, help them develop coping strategies.”

Michelle says that many people don’t want to be a burden on their families and so turn to the Admiral Nurses. Other patients don’t see them, but instead the nurses provide support to their carers.

“It can be a bit like detective work sometimes, we’re trying to solve problem, provide the support and the answers and the care too, Michelle added.”

Both clearly love their jobs and are passionate about their roles.

The Kirklees Admiral Nurses were the first in Yorkshire and they do everything from assessments, therapeutic care, look at personal needs, provide psychological support, give practical advice about benefits, help carers improve their own skills, liaise with other medical professionals and referral to treatments.

Peter added: “Even if you know about dementia, being diagnosed with it can be a shock. People will ask “why me?

“For me I find it a challenging but positive job. It can be emotional and hard work. We see more than just a picture of someone’s lives, we become part of their lives to try and enhance them.”

Michelle says that some families take to their caring roles like a “duck to water”, others contact the Alzheimer’s Society or Dementia UK for support and others worry about it.

She added: “Somebody can go through life with dementia quite pleasantly, but others become aggressive, verbally and physically, and they can change from one hour to the next.

“The best place for someone is in their own community, around everything that is familiar to them.

“When we speak to people they say “I don’t want to go in a care home” and they might get worried about it.”

She says that families need to have the difficult conversation about what they’d want to do if dementia is diagnosed.

And with people living longer the chances of being diagnosed with dementia rise.

“There will be people in Kirklees who will know the signs, early intervention is the best route so go to your GP,” Peter added.