By Regina Altena | Project Leader
2017 November Report Alzheimer Mexico IAP GlobalGiving
We invite you to learn about our activities, carried out in our Day Care Center, based in Mexico City, during the past three months:
August: SaludHable 08/14; National Elders’ Day celebrations 08/28; Journey for Care of Elder People 08/30
September: National Independence Day 09/16; earthquake 09/19; World Alzheimer’s Day 09/21;
October: ToT third training course 10/27; Social fair in Tlalpan 10/31;
On August 14, we received a very special visit from our colleagues with whom we integrate a broad coalition of more than 120 Civil Society Organizations, called SaludHable, which this time carried out some “Conversaciones comunitarias” conversations within the communities to listen the voices and to gather the points of view of patients, caregivers and family members about non-communicable diseases, in our case, about all kinds of dementia. SaludHable joins efforts with NCDA (Non-Communicable Diseases Alliance), and aims at presenting the conclusions to the UN Assembly in September.
August, traditionally is the month to remember and to celebrate the elder people with the highlight of the National Elders’ Day, commemorated each August 28. This year, Alzheimer Mexico participated in five related activities: - The JAP, which is the umbrella organization for the charities in Mexico City, held a big celebration with more than 1000 elder people, assisted by different charities. Our Chair of the Board, Lilia Groues, was invited to be the master of ceremony during this event. A couple of days later, the television channel TV Azteca organized a special celebration at our Day Care Center with musical performance, gifts and a big cake! On August 28 we had our own celebration. From the governmental side there were two celebrations we participated; the first one was really huge, with 12,500 elder people from all over the city, who joined the Arena Mexico, a big theatre in the northern part of the city. This event was chaired by the mayor of Mexico City, Dr. Miguel Ángel Mancera, the ministers for social development and health, members from the local parliament and other government entities. The music from Sonora Santanera was inspiring and many old couples just had an emotive moment and why not, some dancing… The last event was organized by the Delegación Miguel Hidalgo, one of the 16 administrative districts of Mexico City, and Alzheimer Mexico provided information and insight about dementia, and care of dementia patients and their families.
The September month started with a lot of plans for special events, like the celebration of the National Independence Day or all the activities around the World Alzheimer’s Awareness Month and Day. The families and patients were very thrilled to participate in those events and prepared very carefully the typical clothes the patients should wear on September 15! We are sharing some pictures with you.
The other activities for raising awareness among the population about dementia included an own big event, called Alzheimer’s Learn and Act, planned for September 23 at the Olympic Stadium in the South of Mexico City, as well as television and radio interviews.
But then an earthquake strokes the city and the surroundings on September 19, just a couple of hours after the annual general test on evacuation after an earthquake! Luckily nobody at the Day Care Center was injured, nor the building affected. But all the planned activities were set back, as the habitants and the government had to face the emergency situations in so many places. There is still today, more than a month after this terrible earthquake, a lot of work to do.
As you may remember, we told you in our last report that we won the price for the best charity awarded by the Compartir Foundation. Well, the special ceremony will take place on November 8, due also to the changes because of the September 19 earthquake. Of course, we will inform you in the next report.
By October 27, we finished the third of four training courses, we are carrying out this year. The goal of this project, funded by the Social Development Ministry of Mexico City, is to train 160 educators who will be trainers and visit the homes of the elder people (age 68 and more), beneficiaries of a monthly pension.
Finally, Alzheimer México IAP participated in the Social Fair, organized by the Delegación Tlalpan government, in one of the five regions, called Parres. During the fair, our staff gave information about dementia to the public, as well as they organized some plays and exercises that enable the people to improve their knowledge, exercise their memory and prevent -to certain circumstances- Alzheimer’s or other types of dementia. Our psychologist spoke about caring actions for the caregivers, so that they can improve their caregiving without being involved so much themselves, which will help them to prevent the burn out syndrome.
Please stay tuned with us every Tuesday in our radio program on internet Alzheimer Aprende y Actúa, from 13 to 14 hours (Mexico City time), on www.radioapyt.com
By Regina Altena | Project Leader
By Regina Altena | Project Leader
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