On 16 October, nearly 100 colleagues from the ABOARD consortium gathered at Zilveren Kruis in Leiden (Netherlands) for the ABOARD Fall Meeting 2024. The theme of the meeting was "The perspective of the health insurer". The day started with a warm welcome from Jeroen Kemperman of Zilveren Kruis. Then Wout Adema, director of Zorgverzekeraars Nederland, gave an inspiring keynote. He spoke about the challenges faced in healthcare, such as ensuring sustainable care for elderly people.
After this opening from the perspective of health insurers, several ABOARD partners discussed their projects. For instance, Argonde van Harten (Alzheimer Centrum Amsterdam) and Koen Dewaele (ADx NeuroSciences) talked about their work with new blood tests for dementia. Harry Post (Vektis) shared how data from health insurers provides insight into care use and costs in dementia. Marjolein de Vugt (Alzheimer Centrum Limburg) talked about healthy lifestyle interventions, and Jort Vijverberg (Alzheimer Centre Amsterdam) shared the latest developments in medication.
In the afternoon, four sessions took place under the heading "Public-private in practice". In each session, a young researcher spoke from a scientific perspective with an expert from the public or private sector. Together with the audience, a discussion ensued about how research results find their way into education, healthcare, or business. Many new ideas emerged and it was clear that there are more possibilities than it might seem at first glance. During a panel discussion, led by Sven van der Lee (Alzheimercentrum Amsterdam), experts from different backgrounds discussed how living and care are connected and can contribute to better care for people with dementia.
As a traditional finale, the "ABOARD shorts" shared news and plans from the breadth of the consortium. For instance, there were ideas about organising a bus tour of the country with the junior researchers, to share results with the public, whilst Janna Dijkstra, together with patient representative Robert Loose, talked about the successful "Eb and Tide" sailing weekend they organised for young people with a parent with dementia. Alzheimer Europe Director Jean Georges is a member of the ABOARD project Advisory Board.
You can read the full meeting report (in Dutch) here: https://www.alzheimer-nederland.nl/onderzoek/projecten/aboard/nieuws/aboard-fall-meeting-samen-werken-aan-de-zorg-van-morgen
You can find more information about the ABOARD project here: https://www.alzheimer-nederland.nl/onderzoek/projecten/aboard/