Alzheimer Europe Conference Bucharest, Romania 17-19 October 2022

Amalia Fonk-Utomo from Stichting Alzheimer Indonesia Nederland (ALZI Ned) recently attended the Alzheimer Europe Conference 2022 in Bucharest from October 17-19, 2022. During the conference, the we presented Melody Memory Project in Bali, Indonesia, as well as our poster presentation on adapting a book from Alzheimer Nederland to Bahasa and Indonesian culture. Additionally, we held a session titled “Mengenal Gejala Demensia – Aku tidak mau Pikun” at the Indonesian Embassy in Bucharest on 20^th October.

Attending the Alzheimer Europe Conference in Romania in October 2022 was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for our team from ALZI Ned. The conference was held in the beautiful city of Bucharest, Romania. It brought together experts, researchers, and caregivers from all over Europe and beyond. It was an opportunity for us to learn about the latest developments in the field of Alzheimer’s research and to share our own experiences with others who are working to improve the lives of people with the disease.

We were proud to showcase the Melody Memory Project (MMP) Bali in this conference. MMP Bali was an activity that involves the elderly community to carry out meaningful activities in their old age. MMP Bali aimed to provide the elderly with accessible information about the functioning of the brain and about dementia by offering fun activities, namely a gamelan music program. Besides practicing gamelan and sharing information, health checks for the community were also held. Through this program, it is expected that the public will become more aware of dementia.

At this conference, ALZI Ned also had the opportunity to present a poster virtually. A poster presentation titled “Volunteer Activity: Adapting Alzheimer Nederland’s handbook into Indonesian language and culture” was accessible to both in-person and online participants.

In this virtual poster presentation, ALZI Ned focuses on volunteer activity in adapting books from Alzheimer’s Netherlands into Indonesian language and culture. “Dementie en nu” to “Demensia, Lalu Bagaimana?” and “Afscheid en verlies bij dementia” to “Kehilangan dan Perpisahan dalam Demensia”. This activity provides not only a platform for meaningful activities for the Indonesian diaspora in the Netherlands but also materials related to dementia that are easily accessible to the Indonesian community wherever they are.

During the conference, we had the opportunity to meet with other organizations and researchers who are also working to improve the lives of people with Alzheimer’s and dementia. We attended workshops, presentations, and roundtable discussions on topics such as caregiving, new treatments and therapies, and the latest research on the disease.

We also had the chance to explore the beautiful city of Bucharest and experience Romanian culture. We enjoyed the traditional cuisine, visited historic landmarks such as the Palace of the Parliament, and learned about the country’s rich history.

In Romania, we held also a session at the Indonesian Embassy in Bucharest to raise awareness about dementia symptoms and combat the stigma surrounding the disease in the Indonesian community. The session, titled “Mengenal Gejala Demensia – Aku tidak mau Pikun” (“Understanding Dementia Symptoms – I don’t want to be forgetful”), aimed to educate attendees about the warning signs of dementia and encourage them to seek early diagnosis and treatment, especially for Indonesian Diaspora in Romania.

Finally, ALZI Ned would like to thank Indonesian Ambassador to Romania and Moldova, Mr. M. Amhar Azeth, and his wife, Ibu Indriastuti, as well as Mr. Akhmad Masbukhin, Mrs. Ambar, Mr. and Mrs. Bambang, Mr. and Mrs. Agus, and all embassy staff for their support and collaboration during the session.