During the Alzheimer’s Europe Conference, Thea Debono, a CareMalta employee (second from right), was awarded first prize for a poster presentation called ‘The effects of animal assisted activity on the behaviour of older persons living with dementia within a Maltese long-term care facility’.
Ms Debono, who read for a Master of Gerontology and Geriatrics under the supervision of Maria Aurora Fenech, was accompanied by Noel Borg, a CareMalta senior nursing manager – who also delivered a presentation named ‘Moral reasoning in dementia care: The ethical challenges of long-term care’.
Representatives from the Department of Gerontology and Geriatrics, as well as the Active Ageing and Community Care (AACC), accompanied the team.
Nicola Saccasan, who was also present as part of the Maltese delegation, delivered a poster presentation titled ‘Dementia knowledge, attitudes and training needs of student speech-language pathologists and qualified speech-language pathologists: A questionnaire survey’. Ms Saccasan read for a Master of Arts in Ageing and Dementia Studies under the supervision of Charles Scerri.
The conference, which took place in the Hague, Netherlands, brought together people with dementia, their families, volunteers and staff from Alzheimer’s associations, as well as policymakers, health and social care professionals, researchers and industry representatives from all over Europe and beyond.
The conference is a great opportunity for dementia experts to meet, learn from one another and share knowledge and experiences.
During their stay at The Hague, the group also visited The Hogeweyk, Dementia Village concept. The Maltese delegation had the opportunity to view closely and successively participate in a discussion on the principles underlying the ‘dementia village’ concept.