ALZHEIMER EUROPE
Alzheimer Europe hosts Alzheimer’s Association Academy sessions on dementia-inclusive communities and on gender, sex and sexuality in dementia On 19 October and 16 November 2021, Alzheimer Europe held two online sessions of its popular Alzheimer’s Association Academy series. These two sessions explored themes around dementia-inclusive communities, resources and centres, and gender, sex and sexuality in dementia, respectively. Alzheimer Europe’s Alzheimer’s Associa- such as DFIs in reducing ageism, stigma and tion Academy sessions have been running discrimination. since December 2015, bringing together the member associations of Alzheimer Europe, The WHO toolkit was developed in colmembers of the European Working Group laboration and consultation with many of People with Dementia (EWGPWD), and organisations, individuals and experts by experts on dementia from diverse institu- experience, including Alzheimer Europe. It tions across Europe and beyond. Since the consists of two parts, the first of which sets start of the COVID pandemic, these sessions the scene and provides background inforhave been held online. mation, and the second of which covers implementation, monitoring and evaluaDementia-inclusive communities, tion, accompanied by facilitation tools for resources and centres partners. The next four presentations were aimed at providing examples and learnings The Academy session on 19 October was about dementia-inclusive activities, initiafocused on European dementia-inclusive tives and communities, from organisations communities, and included speakers from based in different countries in Europe. the World Health Organisation (WHO), World Dementia Council (WDC) and from European Alzheimer’s associations. The meeting was chaired by Owen Miller, Policy Officer, Alzheimer Europe.
“T’Monument” – a dementia-inclusive initiative in Mechelen Kamala Leemans, a local Project Coordinator in the Municipality of Mechelen gave a presentation which focused on the “T’Monument” dementia-inclusive initiative based in Mechelen. T’Monument is a meeting place for people with dementia and their carers, where they can obtain information and peer support, and participate in activities. She emphasised the value of enabling participation and creating judgement-free, community-based spaces for people with dementia and their carers. Dementia-inclusive initiatives in Italy Mario Possenti of Federazione Alzheimer Italia focused on describing some of FAI’s work on DFIs and awareness-raising in different communities. He provided some specific examples of community work on DFIs such as a supermarket chain that has organised dementia-friendly shopping sessions, a cognitive stimulation path created in a public park, and a new network of pharmacies, called “Farmacia, amica della demenza”. Through this initiative, over 19,000 pharmacists took part in training courses and learned useful tips on how to make their premises more inclusive. Finishing his talk, Mario Possenti presented a recent awareness campaign that was launched for World Alzheimer’s Month, called
Towards a dementia inclusive society: A WHO toolkit for dementia-friendly initiatives The first speaker was Katrin Seeher, Department of Mental Health and Substance Abuse, WHO. She spoke about the new WHO toolkit for dementia-friendly initiatives (DFIs), how it was developed and the ways in which it could be implemented. She explained the importance of supportive environments Alzheimer’s Association Academy attendees on 19 October
Dementia in Europe
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