A WOMAN from Holyhead whose “life purpose, is looking after people with dementia" has won two major titles at the social care equivalent of the Oscars.

Pam Cuffin, an activities officer at Fairways Newydd Nursing and Dementia Care Centre in Llanfairpwll, won gold in the Dignity in Care category and silver in the Excellence in Dementia Award at the prestigious Wales Care Awards.

Commenting on her success, the 57-year-old said: “It was a brilliant night, but now it’s back to what I do best. Looking after people suffering from dementia is my life’s purpose."

The event, which is celebrating its 15th anniversary this year, was held at City Hall in Cardiff and was organised by Care Forum Wales.

The Dignity in Care gold was presented by Huw Irranca-Davies, Welsh Government Minister for Children, Older People and Social Care.

The Excellence and Dementia Award was sponsored by HC-One Ltd, which operates more than 300 care homes throughout the UK, and Pam’s silver was presented by Ana Palazan, director for Wales, Parkinson’s UK Cymru.

Keen photographer Pam, who lives with her husband Robin and has two grown up children, Gareth and Laura, was nominated by Mark Bailey, managing director of Fairways Newydd Ltd.

She says that her involvement with dementia began in 2005 when her father Owain Tudur Hughes was diagnosed with the disease.

In 2010, her father was admitted to hospital. Her mother Olive Hughes was dying of renal failure and her dad’s behaviour was impacting on her care.

Pam was trying to look after both her parents and says she witnessed for the first time the misunderstandings that often occur in care.

Her father died in a nursing home in 2014 and soon after her sister also passed away.

Pam says she used a diary she and her sister Joan kept about her father’s experiences of dementia to help other sufferers.

"I started by reading a book by Thomas Kitwood and read everything and anything I could get my hands on about dementia thereafter,” she said.

After her father died, Pam took a job as a carer in a residential home and gained her NVQ 11 and 111.

Then she gained a full-time job as an activities co-ordinator at Fairways Newydd Nursing and Dementia Centre and for the first time could give free reign to her desire to provide ‘meaningful activity and genuine occupation to people living with dementia’.

"People with dementia come alive before your eyes," she said.

"Cognitive decline just slips away as soon as you tap into a skill from the past. I call them life chores. And my job is to find them."

Pam has also recently established 'Bleak to Chic' - a furniture renovation business which works alongside residents living with dementia.

“We paint our renovated furniture in very bright colours," she explained.

"Yellows and reds and never greys or browns which are normally associated with dementia. The colours are like a beacon of hope.

“It’s remarkable to see someone who is otherwise living in a different world, and seemingly unreachable within it, come to life when working with skills that were laid down decades before.”