These Hands…

This week is Dementia Action Week. I have the privilege of working on an Older Persons dementia ward, one of a number of units I visit during my working week.

It’s a tough and challenging condition, for the person and for loved ones – yet there is great joy in getting to know our patients, to learn about them and (every now and then) catching a glimpse of their world before dementia.

We wanted to capture this somehow, to invite people to look beyond the condition to the person behind it and had an idea we called “These Hands”… I took my camera to work, photographed the patients hands and then we spoke with them and their families to catch a glimpse of their lives. We also asked the patients to select their favourite colour – hence the varied background colours in our video…

I hope it speaks for itself.