‘Dementia Pathways on Your Doorstep’ was jointly delivered by the Academy for Dementia Research and Education (ADRE) and University of Northampton NDRIC. It was their first, joint international conference and was held at ADRE’s base in Lutterworth, Leicestershire.
Aside from the experts-in-their-fields talks that outlined the perspectives about the Danish, Norwegian and UK Lifelong Learning (Brain Gym) intervention, Dutch and UK Meeting Centres and Northamptonshire Memory Hubs, guests also had the chance to explore in deeper detail dementia community solutions with interactive workshops.
The impact of the conference is already being felt:
That there is space for all community interventions to support independent living for people who have dementia. No one approach is better than another; indeed, delegates came away with a greater appreciation of other independent living solutions and a sense that the power of each could be incorporated with, or evolve, others.
Strengthening existing partnerships and creating new opportunities, with presentation slides of best practice already shared with national health bodies.
Extending the ‘Meeting Centres’ initiative across Europe.
‘Next step’ objectives include bringing in health commissioners and local political figures to understand and support enhancing community independent living solutions for those with dementia, their carers and loved ones.
September 2024, next International Conference focussing on community interventions to be held in Malta
It was a timely moment to hold the conference. According to Alzheimer’s UK, if current trends continue, the number of people living with dementia in the UK is forecast to increase to 1,000,000 by 2025 and 1,590,000 by 2040.
Professor Jacqueline Parkes is the lead person of University of Northampton’s Dementia Research and Innovation Centre and founder/Director of ADRE. She sums up the day and next steps: “You may ask yourself ‘why Lutterworth?’, a quiet market town in the middle of England, as the location for a conference about one of the most pressing health issues of our time. Some of our delegates may have thought this before they arrived, but on leaving, they were left in no doubt about why.
“The conference allowed us the chance to tell the evolving story of how we tackle dementia and its enormous impact on people and communities and isolate the key next steps in our journey. We were especially pleased to hear from those people and community leaders; the internationally renowned speakers were the icing on the cake.”
ADRE would like to thank their valued volunteers, members and carers alongside the following community groups and organisations without whom this conference would not have been possible;
University of Northampton
Rotary Club of Lutterworth Wycliffe
Lutterworth Inner Wheel
Lutterworth College
The Greyhound Coaching Inn
