The PROMISE Youth Association for P4 Medicine, in collaboration with the Neuroscience Student Section of the Faculty of Medicine, University of Zagreb, the Neurobiology Section of the Biology Students Association (BIUS), Hipok.art Association, and CROMSIC Split, has started an initiative to address dementia, through volunteering in nursing homes, educating families, and raising awareness about dementia in the broader community. This interdisciplinary project involves students of biomedical disciplines and young people currently active in Zagreb and Split, where a significant need for volunteer assistance in working with patients has been identified through various informational programs and workshops.
The idea stemmed from the recognition of the growing problem of dementia in society, lack of education, stigmatisation of patients, and a lack of activities and interactions with dementia patients in nursing homes. Implementation began with organising training sessions for interested participants, where they had the opportunity to attend lectures by university professors, doctors, caregivers, and professionals who thoroughly prepared volunteers for working with residents. After passing the knowledge exams, an enthusiastic group of willing and warm-hearted individuals was formed, laying the foundation to try to create a generation of selfless and empathetic adolescents with the aim of establishing a better system for the elderly and shaping a society with heightened awareness of dementia. Recently, numerous educational and creative activities have been successfully conducted in many nursing homes, bringing smiles to the residents' faces and enriching their daily routines. Based on exceptional interest and support from nursing homes, positive reactions from patients, and the motivation of volunteers, the prerequisite for establishing a sustainable systematic education programme for high school students, university students, families of patients, and the wider public has been met.
At the first volunteer training sessions held at the Clinical Hospital Center in Zagreb, the Croatian Institute for Brain Research, and the Faculty of Medicine in Split, over 40 participants from various educational backgrounds such as medicine, biology, biotechnology, rehabilitation, and speech therapy took part. They learned about working with, caring for, and interacting with people living with dementia, as well as gaining general knowledge about dementia, by expert and experienced lecturers. As many as 10 nursing homes have joined this innovative project, where 70 workshops have been held so far, including painting and drawing, clay modeling, dance, as well as simpler activities like walks in nearby parks and poetry reading. Volunteers also monitor the effects of workshops on the cognitive state of the residents using the Montreal Cognitive Assessment Score (MOCA), and the project hopes to publish a scientific paper on the impact of creative workshops on dementia, if viable results are obtained.
The project is also preparing educational sessions for high school students to acquaint them with the risks of developing dementia, treatment and diagnostic options, and most importantly - prevention of its development. There is also a public health action planned on the main square in Zagreb, where project volunteers will administer the MOCA test to passers-by for early signs of dementia, with the hope of raising more awareness. This would conclude the volunteer term for the first winter generation of students and help prepare the ground for a new generation of volunteers who will operate during the summer semester. The PROMISE Youth Association for P4 Medicine is a group of students and young people in biomedical fields who have completed the Erasmus+ program "PROMISE - Personalized Medicine Inquiry-Based Education". After gaining knowledge about the possibilities of personalised, participatory, preventive, and predictive (P4) medicine, they decided to continue acting in that spirit, seeking to modernise current concepts in medical approaches and science.
In just over two years of operation, they have demonstrated this, through several major projects such as the international and award-winning Brain-Gut Axis conference, the initiative for tumor patients From Personalized Testing to Targeted Treatment (FT3), the Cell Biology and Art Class Omnibus (CACAO), workshops and lectures on P4 medicine concepts, and currently we are focusing most of our resources on the volunteer project Remember Me. More information about the project can be found on the Association's website: https://sjetimese.carrd.co/ or you can email: promiseyouthassociation@gmail.com