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We plan to build Clive Homes, the only care facility in the UK, possibly the world, that supports people with Young Onset Dementia. Our plan is that Clive Homes, located in Oxfordshire, will provide an innovative, purpose built facility for the delivery of both respite and palliative care for up to 25 people.
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Young Onset Dementia is an illness that affects people between the ages of 30 and 65 and there are at least 15,000 people affected in the UK and this number may be as high as 45,000 but because specialist services are rare, collecting definitive statistics is difficult. Dementia is a progressive disorder affecting how the brain works. It causes deterioration in memory, thinking, understanding, communication, physical co-ordination as well as mood and behaviour. These changes may take up to ten years from diagnosis. Eventually every aspect of daily living is affected. This is very stressful for the person and their family, the illness is terminal and there is no cure. Dementia in younger people presents additional challenges. They are likely to experience rarer dementias, stranger symptoms and odder behaviours. Whilst the brain is affected by the illness the body invariably remains well. This fitness and vigour demands activities to suit. Traditional care for people with dementia is built around an assumption that dementia only affects older people and therefore the support available and the environments in which it is delivered are wholly unsuitable for the younger person and their families. This unsuitability compounds what is already a very stigmatising and thoroughly misunderstood illness. Clive Homes will be built in Oxfordshire, in an easily accessible, rural setting where we will build a complex of cottage style accommodation for the people with dementia and their family members. We require £3.5m to build the complex and for initial working capital. Once fully operational the project will be self funding through fees.