Railway workers across Greater Anglia’s network have been training as dementia friends.
Ipswich mayor Roger Fern delivered a training session to workers at the town’s railway station earlier this week, where they were taught how to help someone with dementia.
The scheme is being piloted at Ipswich, Norwich, Chelmsford and Cambridge with the aim of eventually rolling it out to all frontline staff.
Latest figures suggest there are around 850,000 people living with dementia in the UK.
More than 80,000 of these live in the east of England, and 1,700 live in Ipswich.
Customer services director Andrew Goodrum said: “We care about all of our customers and want to do all that we can to make them safe on trains and at our stations.
“We recognize the importance of this training and we are very grateful to the Alzheimer’s Society for providing the course for our colleagues.
“We are committed to supporting those living with dementia and it’s important that our stations and services are accessible to everyone.”
Dementia Friends badges will be handed out when workers complete the training.
The emblems are recognised by people with dementia and their carers.
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