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Description
‘In 30 years, there will be two million people with Alzheimer''s disease in Poland. Each of us is a potential caregiver and also a potential patient’, – argues Marlena Mayer, a dementia educator. So NGOs supporting people with dementia and their carers, as well as carrying out awareness and education activities for the public, should already work in every Polish county. Unfortunately, this is not the case. This is why our Foundation has been established to support the local community in the county of Nowy Sącz and the neighbouring counties in the area. As part of the project, we will streamline the operation of our organisation by standardising management and developing an income diversification strategy. We will establish a Foundation''s office that will serve as a permanent service delivery location. We will increase the effectiveness of communication with our beneficiaries by launching new tools: online campaigns and meetings with seniors. We will work more efficiently for the empowerment of people with dementia and their carers. We will organise meetings with experts to provide carers of people with dementia with the knowledge they need. We will initiate a community of people with similar experiences to support each other. We will involve people with the disease and their carers in the process of making recommendations on how to organise events with people with dementia. We will use the developed guidelines when organising a pilot event entitled ''The Nowy Sącz Brain Day'' to convince the local community and institutions that it is possible to create inclusive events involving people with dementia.
Summary of project results
“In 30 years, two million people in Poland will suffer from Alzheimer’s. Each of us is a potential caregiver, as well as a potential patient,” says Marlena Mayer, an educator dealing with dementia. Therefore, a dynamic Alzheimer’s organization supporting people with dementia, their caregivers and educating society should already be operating in every county. Unfortunately, this is not the case. Seeing this lack in our region, we established a Foundation that supports the local community in this area from the Nowy Sącz and neighboring counties. Firstly, the project was to improve the operation of our organization by standardizing management and developing a strategy for diversifying revenues, and to increase stability by opening an office – a permanent place of providing services. Secondly, to increase the effectiveness of communication with the recipients of our activities by launching new means: online campaigns and meetings with seniors. Thirdly, to launch processes of empowering caregivers and patients. To organize meetings with experts, during which caregivers of people with dementia gained the necessary knowledge, but also gained a circle of support from people with similar experiences. The project also assumed the involvement of patients and caregivers in the process of writing recommendations regarding the organization of events with the participation of people with dementia. And finally, the organization of a pilot event "Sądecki Dzień Mózgu" according to the developed guidelines, in order to convince the local community and institutions that it is possible to create events that include people with dementia.
The aim of the 1st activity was to improve the organization''s operations by standardizing management in the areas of beneficiary service, communication and finance. The first step was to rent a permanent office, which serves as a meeting place and a Consultation Point for caregivers of people with dementia. Thanks to the support of a mentor from the BIS Foundation, we developed internal and external communication rules and a strategy for revenue diversification, which allowed us to obtain the status of an OPP. We also introduced digital tools that improved project management (Nozbe) and document archiving (Sync). We organized regular online meetings using Zoom. The 2nd activity was the "Take care of your brain" campaign, addressed to seniors. We created an educational presentation on recognizing the symptoms of dementia and printed promotional and educational materials. We conducted the campaign in Tarnów and Chełmiec. We actively promoted our activities on Facebook and Instagram through 4 advertising campaigns, including a campaign promoting the online conference and Sądecki Brain Day 2024. The online conference gathered 483 participants, and the speakers were: Marlena Meyer, Agata Blachowska and Karolina Jurga. The 3rd activity consisted of supporting caregivers of people with dementia through a series of 6 meetings "Caregiver, you are not alone", in which 60 people participated. Topics included communication with patients, social benefits and rehabilitation. As part of Sądecki Brain Day, we conducted 3 events. The first was art therapy in the BWA Sokół gallery, in which 17 people participated (9 patients and 8 caregivers). The second event was music therapy for 30 people living with dementia, their caregivers and other participants. The last event was a conference and workshops, in which 100 people participated. All events were based on the proprietary standard "Dementia-Friendly Culture", which was developed based on a study of the needs of caregivers and experts.
Thanks to the grant, we obtained a permanent seat at ul. Jagiellońska 46 in Nowy Sącz, where the Consultation Point operates and regular meetings with experts for carers of people with dementia are held. After the subsidy ended, we continue to rent the office together with Oriflame. Cooperation with the BIS Foundation from Krakow helped to develop communication standards and identify new sources of financing, thanks to which we obtained a subsidy from the Chełmiec commune and the status of an OPP, which allows us to collect 1.5% of tax. New digital tools (Nozbe, Sync, Zoom) were also implemented, which improved project management and internal communication. We conducted 2 lectures for seniors on the early symptoms of dementia, and advertising campaigns in social media increased the reach of our fanpage by 200%. Our website recorded 1.7 thousand new users, and the greatest activity was recorded during the online conference, where we gained 483 newsletter subscriptions. In the series "Caregivers, you are not alone" we trained 60 people, although 90 were assumed, due to the difficulties of carers in leaving their charges. In the future, we plan to include sick people in the meetings. A document containing recommendations regarding the standard of events for people with dementia was created. As part of the Sądecki Brain Day 2024, we conducted a conference, music therapy and art therapy, in which a total of 147 people took part, including 100 at the conference, 30 in music therapy and 17 in art therapy. At the event, we established 5 new partnerships, including with Alzheimer Polska and the Małopolskie Centrum Kultury Sokół.