Twitter and Facebook used in photo project for dementia sufferers

Social media is being used in a project to help people being treated for dementia.

University Hospitals Coventry and Warwickshire NHS Trust is asking people to share photos and stories of the area to form collages used to trigger memories in sufferers.

Postcards from the Past marks Dementia Awareness Week, organised by The Alzheimer's Society.

People can share photos on the hospital's Twitter and Facebook pages.

Retain old memories

Nurse Liz Keirnan said: "Memory is almost like a filing system and the last thing you put in, unfortunately, is the first thing you forget, so people remember things further back.

"It [looking at familiar photos] is a way of coping, but it's a way of that person feeling that they're valued and making their last days enjoyable."

The collages will help patients, many of whom retain old memories long after their short-term memories begin to fail.

This year's campaign is the second in a series of social media initiatives by the trust.

The trust is also using <link> <caption>Twitter</caption> <altText>Hospital's twitter page</altText> <url href="http://www.twitter.com/nhsuhcw" platform="highweb"/> </link> and <link> <caption>Facebook</caption> <altText>Hospital's Facebook page</altText> <url href="https://www.facebook.com/NHSUHCW" platform="highweb"/> </link> to provide and share advice on how to care for people with dementia.