Where:
Vorarlberg, Austria
Who is involved:
Connexia – Gesellschaft für Gesundheit und Pflege – gGmbH. In 2012 Campaign Dementia won an EFID award.
Nature of activity:
Campaign Dementia aims to create conditions in Vorarlberg that enable people with dementia to participate in public and social life. They support communities that wish to create a friendlier environment for people with dementia and their families. Twenty-three example or model ‘dementia-friendly communities’ (out of 96 possible districts, and almost 60% of the inhabitants of Vorarlberg) have joined them since 2008.
Countrywide, they also want to sensitise the general public and increase awareness of dementia by informing (e.g. through press relations and conferences, brochures, events, movies, art exhibitions, lessons in schools and kindergarten) and educating (e.g. neighbourhood assistants, policemen, salespeople, bus drivers, bank employees).
In Bludenz, for example, the city has made health a priority and Dementia Action complements this. There is a recognition that people with and without dementia encounter one another on a daily basis whether in the family, in the supermarket, on the street, in the neighborhood, or in public institutions. The aim is to draw up a joint project to develop a dementia-friendly city, with the involvement of people with dementia, professional experts, policymakers and civic volunteers.