 | Dementia Alzheimer’s Warwickshire Network |
| This page is part of the archive of community profiles and was written in January 2004.
 DAWN was formed in March 2003 after the closure of Magnolia House in Leamington.
DAWN are hoping that their efforts will eventually ensure better funding and person centred residential care countrywide and bring to an end the uncertainty faced by so many elderly people in our society today.
As a group they have raised questions about the fees paid to elderly mentally ill care homes and had an item on the Elderly Mentally Ill placed on the Primary Care Trust public meeting agenda.
At the last meeting it was suggested that DAWN should campaign for the end of top-up fees paid by relatives and friends. |
| Their main aims include:
- to secure an adequate and appropriate level of Dementia care in the local area
- to lobby Government for more funding for Dementia care in the Warwickshire area, which will cover training and better wages for staff
- to have Alzheimer’s recognised as an illness that should be treated through the NHS and its resources
- to recognise that people with Dementia need to receive properly funded good long-term care at the point of need, which may follow care in the community
- to secure adequate funding for people with Dementia in residential care that does not require “top-ups” from families and additional resources
- to improve the tenancy rights of residents, which currently often gives a notice period of just two weeks
 Their founder, Sandra Coombs, who has worked in Dementia care and care for elderly people since 1982 said:
"Following the closure of Magnolia House five of our residents died within a month of being moved. This also strengthened our resolve to try and bring about changes that may go some way to protecting the most vulnerable in our society.
We hold regular meetings at the Waverley Day Centre in Kenilworth, please contact us on contact.dawn@virgin.net or 01926 613685 for the date of our next meeting." |
|  In November last year Chris Edgerton and Karren Staples and other members of DAWN lobbied Andy King MP. You can read the full news story on the Leamington Spa Courier website.
DAWN have recently set up a campaign website where you can find more information about their work, contacts and a membership form to download and complete. Please visit the site at http://warkcom.net/DAWN
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