Art nourishes the mind. But also an additional tool to help recover (at least partially) your memory people with Alzheimer’s or dementia. The first results of the project encourage us to think so “Guarding Memories”, born from Carrara Academydal Ferb Onlus Alzheimer Center of Excellence of the Gazzaniga hospital and from Ats Bergamowhich involved several residences for the elderly in the area, including the Rsa “Giovanni XXIII” of Trescore Balneario (Bg) managed by social cooperative Società Dolce. Right here a museum room has been set up with reproductions of selected works, where residents are free to move, observe and choose, allowing themselves to be guided in the interaction.
«The reproduction of the work of art brings out memories and feelings», explains the educator Laura Carlozzo. «So a mountain can take you back to the Great War fought in the Alpine troops, a girl with red hair becomes Anna, the beloved daughter with hair of the same color, a pearl necklace evokes the memory of your wedding. They are meetings that break the wall of fog and lack of communication, which isolates people with dementia.”
This is an innovative project where art is tool for re-enactment, memories and emotions linked to personal experiences and is part of a path of care and well-being, as an experimental non-pharmacological therapy, which integrates different skills. The mayor of Trescore also expresses satisfaction, Danny Benedettiwho explains that «an aging population and the need for adequate services will find further answers in a new RSA with an Alzheimer’s nucleus, in a project financing with Società Dolce».
From left, Pietro Segata and Danny Benedetti
Dementia is the seventh cause of death in the world and affects over 55 million people, a new case approximately every three seconds. «In Italy there are over two million people with dementia or cognitive disordersbut in RSAs approximately one in two people is affected”, he underlines Pietro Segata, president of the social cooperative Società Dolce. «This is why we invest in training operators on the topic, with projects like this and methods that reduce or eliminate the use of mechanical or pharmacological restraints. Dementia is a health challenge and in the future the role of RSAs will be increasingly central.”
In recent days Sara Fascendini of Ferb e Giuseppina Frigeri of the ATS presented dementia from a healthcare point of view, confirming the validity of art for the well-being of sick people. But art is also good for those who provide care, as he said Lucia Cecio (Accademia Carrara) recounting the success of guided tours for people with Alzheimer’s or dementia and their caregivers at the Carrara museum in Bergamoa virtuous example of socialization, inclusion and well-being.