This week, (19th — 25th May) is Dementia Awareness Week, as such we’d like to help raise awareness of dementia, get people talking about dementia and highlight the need to declare dementia when you buy travel insurance.

Dementia Awareness Week is organised annually by the Alzheimer’s Society. The theme of this year’s campaign is ‘Worrying changes nothing. Talking changes everything’ - The Alzheimer’s Society wants to get people talking about dementia.

Dementia is not one medical condition; the term is used to describe a set of symptoms including memory loss, mood changes and problems with reasoning and communication. The most common form of dementia is Alzheimer’s disease.

There are currently 800,000 people living with dementia in the UK, this figure is expected to reach more than one million by 2021. Two thirds of dementia suffers are women.

Five things you should know about dementia

1. Dementia is not a natural part of aging — if you are suffering from memory loss or mood changes visit your GP to get checked out. Drugs are available that can help certain kinds of dementia.

2. Dementia is caused by illness of the brain — Dementia is a name for a collection of symptoms which can be caused by a number of diseases that cause changes in the brain.

3. Dementia is not just about losing your memory — it can also affect the way people think, speak and do things. Dementia can’t be cured but there is a lot that can be done to help.

4. It is possible to live well with dementia — many people with dementia continue to drive, socialise, hold down jobs and go on holiday.

5. There’s more to a person than dementia.

To find out more about dementia go to alzheimers.org.uk

Holidays, travel insurance and dementia

Many people with dementia live a full and active life, including travelling abroad on holiday. However if you do travel abroad, it’s very important to get the right travel insurance which will cover dementia.

Goodtogoinsurance.com is proud to provide travel insurance for all types of dementia.

In order to be fully covered by your travel insurance you must declare that you or your travelling companion suffers from dementia at the time of purchase.

You will be asked to answer a short series of questions about the dementia, such as do you need help with washing, dressing or eating, and whether you require more supervision now than you did six months ago. Travel insurance with cover for dementia can usually be issued immediately - it won’t take long and you don’t need to provide a doctor’s certificate.

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If you are planning a holiday and you or a family member suffers from dementia it is usually a good idea to visit your doctor first, to talk about your plans and how coping with dementia might affect them.