The Swale Dementia Friends Action Alliance wants town centre workers to receive awareness training about the condition.

The Dementia-Friendly Communities Programme was launched by the Alzheimer’s Society in December 2012.

It aims to make people living with the illness more involved in society.

Elaine Bashford, who is activity coordinator at Barton Court Care Home and volunteers for the alliance, has started lobbying the Sheerness Town Team to encourage businesses in the area to take part in the scheme.

There have also been discussions with Tesco. She said: “When somebody becomes a dementia friend, they understand and can recognise when somebody is in distress.

“There can be misunderstandings. There have been times when someone with dementia has been prosecuted for shoplifting when they didn’t mean to steal.

“But the training makes people more aware of the condition in general.

“There was a local shop in a village in another part of the country where the owner used to let someone go in and take his shopping, then the man’s wife would come in and settle up for it at the end of the week.”

Town team chairman John Nurden said: “We are sympathetic to this and will be meeting later to discuss what is needed and what members can do assist those suffering from this terrible condition.”

Kent County Council’s project officer for dementia-friendly communities, Jo Evans, said the local authority was hoping to trial a similar scheme in Gravesham.

She said: “It would be good to get more people doing the training – taking the one-hour awareness session and making a pledge.”

If the scheme is established in Sheerness, it could be extended to Sittingbourne and Faversham.

See www.dementiaaction.org.uk/local_alliances