<p>McCarthy Stone has announced that it is aims to train all its employees to be a “Dementia Friend” by the end of this year.</p> <p>The retirement housebuilder is joining the Alzheimer’s Society’s Dementia Friends Programme, which seeks to change the way the country “thinks, acts and talks” about dementia – a condition that currently affects <span>850,000 people. This is forecast to rise to 2 million by 2051.</span></p> <p><span>McStone said that Covid-19 had brought challenges to the support of dementia sufferers, with more than a quarter of those who died with the virus in the first three months of the 2021 lockdown having the disease.</span></p> <p><span>The business has signed up to the dementia campaign to make sure its employees understand the impact of the condition, the most common form of which is Alzheimer’s. There are more than 100 different types of this disease that affect the brain, including vascular dementia, McStone said. </span></p> <p><span>The condition, McStone explained, was more common in those aged over 65 but it could also affect the young, with symptoms including memory loss and difficulties with thinking, language and co-ordination. </span></p> <p><span>McStone’s internal campaign is being led by </span>Alex Fleming, the company’s dedicated health and wellbeing adviser. …