The Alzheimer’s Society hopes to open a new office in the Isle of Man.
The charity is in the process of gaining legal status and will then seek a location for its office base.
It will employ four part-time paid staff in the office, along with volunteers.
Anne-Marie Cagliarini, locality manager for the Alzheimer’s Society in Merseyside and the Isle of Man, said: ‘We’re just in the process of becoming legal in the island, working with advocates, and what that will enable us to do is set up an office in the island.
‘We’ll have four part-time paid staff and hopefully lots of volunteers, so anybody that’s interested can come along and help us in our work.
‘It will enable us to mirror services that are being provided on the mainland, here on the island, that we know are much needed.
‘That will include specialised outreach services for people with dementia and providing that emotional support and also specialised services like maintaining skills groups, and activities for people with dementia and the carers.’
It is estimated that there are 1,055 cases of dementia in the Isle of Man, with the largest numbers aged between 80 and 89.
‘These are just the cases we know about too,’ said Anne-Marie.
‘There are many that are undiagnosed such as people living alone.’
There are around 750,000 people in the UK living with dementia.
Alzheimer’s disease is the most common cause of dementia, affecting around 465,000 people in the UK.
Alzheimer’s disease is a physical disease affecting the brain.
During the course of the disease, protein plaques and tangles develop in the structure of the brain, leading to the death of the brain cells.
People wih Alzheimer’s also have a shortage of some important chemicals in their brains.
These chemicals are involved with the transmission of messages within the brain.
Alzheimer’s is a progressive disease, which means that gradually, over time, more parts of the brain are damaged. As this happens, the symptoms become more severe.
A Dementia Community Roadshow took place on Tuesday and Wednesday aimed at increasing awareness and understanding of the condition, as reported in last week’s Manx Independent.
The Roadshow bus offered a new free Dementia Guide, launched earlier this month.
To order the free guide visit alzheimers.org.uk/dementiaguide or phone 0300 303 5933.