Company for someone living with dementia: a plain-English guide
Company for someone with dementia works best when it is the same familiar face each time, with unhurried conversation, no pressure to perform or be tested on names and dates, and flexibility to dip in and out depending on how someone is feeling that day. Consistency is not a nice extra with dementia, it is most of the value of the visit.
How dementia deepened Dad's loneliness. Our founder David started AirCarers Companion after his own dad lived with dementia, and he talks about it in a short video on this page. Once the dementia took hold, his dad became isolated. He stopped getting to his bowls club three times a week. He could no longer use his phone, so he could not text or ring the family. Towards the end he could not settle to the television either, so visits would find him sitting in the kitchen staring at the cupboards. David only realised afterwards how lonely that must have been, and that is a pattern many families recognise only in hindsight.
AirCarers Companion can offer a regular, familiar companion for conversation, a cup of tea, a gentle walk, help around the house or company travelling to a local group, at whatever length and frequency suits the family. We are honest about what we cannot offer: AirCarers companions are not dementia specialists, have no clinical dementia training, and do not provide personal care, medication or behaviour management. For hands on personal care or specialist clinical support, a CQC registered home care provider, a GP or the local memory service is the right next step, and plenty of families use both.
Local memory cafes and dementia groups near our coverage area include All Sorts Dementia Group in Ware, Hertford Memory Cafe, Cheshunt Memory Hub in Broxbourne (last Friday of the month at the Laura Trott Leisure Centre), the Together memory cafe at St Cuthbert's, Hoddesdon, and the memory cafe at the Oasis Lounge, Bishop's Stortford Methodist Church (every Monday, 10am to 12pm). A companion can also travel to these groups alongside someone if getting there alone is the barrier.
What dementia care actually cost us. Rather than quote averages, the page shares real figures from David's own family, in two short videos. Carers coming into his dad's home were roughly 35 pounds an hour, two visits a day, seven days a week, which came to around 500 pounds a week. The carers were excellent, but it was a different carer most days, which is hard when you are trying to build a relationship with someone living with dementia. Later, the care home was about 1,800 pounds a week, and before his dad was accepted as a permanent resident the family had to show 139,000 pounds in his account. These are one family's numbers, not a price list. A companion does not replace personal care or clinical support, which are jobs for regulated providers. It is the ordinary hours in between, the ones nobody is paid to cover, where loneliness tends to set in, and that is the part we help with.
AirCarers Companion connects families in Ware, Hertford, Hoddesdon, Broxbourne and the surrounding SG11 to SG14 and EN10 to EN11 postcodes with vetted companions, rates from 25 pounds an hour, most families have a first visit booked within days. Every companion is enhanced DBS checked, ID verified, insured and trained. It is a companionship platform, not a CQC registered agency, and does not provide personal or clinical care. To talk it through, call 07455 750006 or email lucie@aircarers.co.uk.