A COCKTAIL of health treatment was on the menu for carers and guests at Kilbirnie’s Anam Cara dementia respite centre recently.

Pedicures, massages, eye tests, dental consultations and hearing aid assistance were complemented by the delights of home baking – fresh from the centre’s oven.

The event proved so popular with guests and carers alike that it’s set to become a quarterly fixture.

The health and wellbeing event came as a result of consulting with carers who made clear the challenges those living with dementia have in accessing some of the services on offer.

Therefore, having the services brought to them at a secure location eradicated those challenges and enabled supervised-free access in a friendly and familiar setting.

Services on offer were free for the lucky recipients and paid for from the centre’s comfort fund. Foot care proved the most popular service and recipients received their own unique foot care pack which they can bring to the next event.

Anam Cara centre manager, Clare Mills was delighted with the response to the event. “We promoted it through our summer newsletter, the dementia blog and CareNA.

“There were 28 guests and carers receiving treatment and this was a nice number to start with.

“However, we anticipate a larger response at the next event because there were several people who couldn’t attend due to prior commitments.

“We extend thanks to the service providers who really do a sterling job with our clients.”