More than two hundred people, including health professionals, researchers, political representatives, students, formal and informal caregivers, participated in the III International Seminar on Alzheimer’s and Other Dementias: Knowing, Understanding and Intervening, which took place on December 13, 14 and 15, in the Auditorium of the School of Technology and Management of the Polytechnic of Viseu (IPV), in an initiative of the School of Education of Viseu, with the Social Works of the Staff of the City Hall and Municipal Services of Viseu, and the support of CINTESIS.

“The goal was to share knowledge and current experiences in the area of Alzheimer’s disease through participation in panels on formal care, informal care, technologies, community living and intervention (non-pharmacological, which includes music therapy and activity physics, for example), “explains Lia Araújo, researcher at CINTESIS and a member of the organizing committee.

According to the official, one of the main conclusions of this Seminar was that “it is important that formal care and informal care are not separated and become more and more abreast.” And while recognizing that “there are already very good practices”, she believes that “further research and better dissemination of existing ones must be carried out, taking into account innovative, individualized and more positive models.”

In this regard, the gerontologist Lourdes Bermejo praised the so-called “Person-Centered Approach”, “an innovative model that is already being followed in several European countries.” According to Lia Araújo, this movement is based on the idea that each person is unique. “When we develop an intervention, we must respect the individual characteristics of each person, their personalities. We cannot only see the disease, but the person as a whole. It is necessary to develop care in humanity,” she says.

For the researcher, accessibility to technologies is another key issue. “There are many technologies that are even free, where the question of cost does not even exist, and people do not know that. We need to focus more on information, literacy and education so that existing resources can be more mobilized and used. It is necessary to disseminate answers and services that exist and are not reaching everyone, possibly because the communication channels are failing, “he adds, recalling the participation of CINTESIS’s ActiveAdvice project, which specifically aims to disseminate information and support to decision on AAL – Ambient Assisted Living.

After the first two days of the seminar being dedicated to the scientific part, with the participation of several specialists, mainly physicians, psychologists and gerontologists, from Portuguese and Spanish institutions, the third day was dedicated to a meeting whose mission was to include, train and inform people in the community who do not normally have access to this type of event, such as field technicians from this geographical area and informal caregivers.

At this meeting, several workshops were held and many topics such as the role of social communication in fighting the stigma associated with the disease were discussed. The event also included cultural events such as book presentations and a concert.

Lia Araújo is a researcher at AgeingC of CINTESIS, a member of the PT100 – Centenários projects (coordinated by Óscar Ribeiro, principal investigator of the AgeingC group, CINTESIS) and MentHa (coordinated by Pedro Machado dos Santos, from CINTESIS), a professor at the Polytechnic of Viseu and promoting the Café Memória of Viseu.

In addition to Lia Araújo, a number of CINTESIS researchers participated, including Óscar Ribeiro, Constança Paúl, Mafalda Duarte, Maria João Azevedo, Natália Duarte, Rita Tavares de Sousa, Sara Alves and Soraia Teles.