Women making a huge difference

The statistics are compelling: in France, more than 130,000 new cases are diagnosed annually; in the world, more than 26 million people suffer from the disease.

Two women are at the forefront of the Nice/Monaco projects: France's Former First Lady, Mme Bernadette Chirac, and Monaco's Mme Catherine Pastor.

Mme Chirac, President of the Pompidou Foundation, has selected Nice as the site for the first hospital in the Mediterranean region devoted to Alzheimer's. When it opens in 2011, L'Institut Alzheimer Claude Pompidou will offer 72 beds for full-time patients, 19 beds for day care (to relieve stress on family carers), a memory unit and clinical research facilities.

In Monaco, the care, treatment and research into Alzheimer's will form part of the vocation of the Centre de Gérontologie Clinique Rainier III, also scheduled for a 2011 opening.

Mme Pastor, who recently became President of AMPA, has barely stopped since she assumed the role, devoting her time and energy to creating awareness and raising funds to underwrite basic and clinical research and improve the quality of life of Alzheimer victims and their families. Her most recent project was a gala and auction at the end of September to fund a sensorial unit, L'Espace Snoezelen, at the new Centre de Gérontologie.

Snoezelen, developed in the Netherlands for those with learning and communication difficulties, is a system that stimulates the five senses with music, a play of lights, vibrations and tactile and olfactory sensations.

Experiencing varied stimuli in a relaxed environment encourges movement, discovery, a reawakening of the senses and conviviality.

AMPA's next major project, "Meeting of the Minds”, comes in February next year with the association's first International Congress on Alzheimer's Disease and Advanced Neurotechnologies at the Rainier III Auditorium. It will be a platform for an exchange of information on the diagnosis, prevention, treatment in the future .

LB