World Alzheimer's Day is commemorated every year in the Czech Republic as "Memory Week". This year, Memory Week lasted 21 days and during those days, the Czech Alzheimer Society (ČALS) organised several traditional events. The mobile counselling centre in the Westfield Chodov shopping centre was again a success, open to the public for three days at the beginning of September. Many people also came to the memory screening, which took place in the building of the public Czech Radio in the third week of September. During this week, the issue of living with dementia was more widely covered by the media. Czech Radio invited Věra Ryšavá, member of the European Working Group of People with Dementia and ČALS consultant Eva Jarolímová for the main interview of the day.
Věra can tell her story so well that life with dementia is suddenly very understandable even to people who do not pay attention to media reports featuring experts. The contact points of the ČALS also joined the celebration of World Alzheimer's Day and one example of a very successful event was the mobile counselling organised by the Centre for Social Assistance and Services in Hradec Králové. Similarly successful were a series of lectures held in Naděje in Zlín. Next year, Memory Week will most likely become Memory Month, and ČALS is looking forward to it!