The Greek Dementia Friends Programme was presented during the 11 Panhellenic Conference on Alzheimer's Disease & 3 Mediterranean Conference on Neurodegenerative Diseases, which took place earlier this year. At the launch, Daniela Fernandez Gomora and Sanna Laaksonen presented Dementia Friends in England and Wales and the Global Dementia Friends Network, in English, after which a Dementia Friends Session was delivered by Tsatali Marianna. During the programme’s implementation, participants learned the five key messages through structured activities and had the opportunity to ask questions and share their personal experiences regarding dementia, as well as proposing future actions to help make dementia a national priority.
An example from Greek mythology was also presented: The Odyssey, which may well be the first ever literary description of dementia. Homer’s epic poem mainly focuses on Odysseus, king of Ithaca, and his journey home after the fall of Troy. It takes him ten years to reach Ithaca after the ten-year Trojan War. In his absence, it is assumed he has died, and his wife Penelope and son Telemachus deal with a group of unruly suitors, the Mnesteres or Proci, who compete for Penelope's hand in marriage. One of the characters in the story is Laertes, Odysseus’ father, whom, it is thought from descriptions of him in the text, had dementia. Much like Odysseus’ journey back to Ithaca, the road towards the end-goal of curing dementia is long and hard, but as the poet Konstantinos Kavafis says in his poem, Ithaca, it is important to focus on the journey, not just the destination. In general, delegates were very interested in becoming Dementia Friends. Specifically, after the session, the first 50 Greek Dementia Friends received their badges. Additionally, a representative of the Greek association for deaf people requested to deliver an informative session for deaf people. After these initial steps, the Dementia Friends programme will be spread throughout Greece via the Panhellenic Federation of Alzheimer’s Disease website and newsletter.
