Lee Regan Larkin
In the last few days, I attended the Alzheimer’s Disease International (ADI) annual conference. The conference, held in Toronto, Canada brought together experts from around the world, focusing on the latest research in dementia care, prevention and treatment.
ADI is an umbrella organization of Alzheimer’s associations from around the world, with an aim to strengthen the associations and raise global awareness of Alzheimer’s disease and all other causes of dementia.
The conference offered hope for people living with memory loss or diagnosed Alzheimer’s disease with a focus on truly empowering these individuals through involvement in their own care as well as many research-based psychosocial interventions in care. For all of us there was great information about prevention as being a powerful tool in the face of Alzheimer’s disease and memory loss.
The conference did not offer a “magic bullet” for the treatment or reversal of Alzheimer’s disease rather a holistic way of treating individuals with the disease and a focus on prevention for the greater population. Many of the interventions mentioned in both areas are currently being implemented through Senior Living Residences’ Compass Memory Support programs. New ideas from the conference will be studied for further programmatic implementation.
Over the next few days and weeks, I look forward to sharing more specific ideas, research, and interviews from experts at the conference.