The most innovative event organised for the 2020 World Alzheimer’s Month in Turkey this year, was a project called “Forgotten Stuff”. Türkiye Alzheimer Dernegi (Turkish Alzheimer association) coordinated many events this year such as handing out masks with forget-me-not flowers embroidered, press releases, live online meetings bringing medical staff together with caregivers, publishing related posters and videos on social media, etc. However, the biggest surprise was triggered by “Forgotten Stuff”, organised by the management team of one of the major malls in Istanbul, partnering with a well-known public relations and advertising company and the Turkish Alzheimer association.
The event was planned around the fact that many visitors leave their belongings forgetfully in the shopping malls. Both outdoors and indoors, publications were prepared with the slogan: “Forgotten Stuff can be a sign of Alzheimer’s”, drawing attention to “small” forgetful actions.
In addition to the visual reminders such as billboard posters and social media posts, announcements were made periodically inside the mall saying that an object was found and the owner of the object was directed to the headquarters of the association to collect their lost items. A different object was announced each time e.g. sunglasses or a hat or a cane, etc. Some of the announcements were not true, they were added to intensify the “flavour” of the event.
Furthermore, a stand was set up in the mall with representatives of the association attending and giving information verbally (due to the pandemic no brochures were handed out), both about the disease and the services provided by the Turkish Alzheimer association. When the person who left an object at the mall arrived at the association they were given information about Alzheimer’s disease and its symptoms and were presented with informative leaflets, as well as being notified about pre-tests. The aim of the activity was to make people reconsider their forgetfulness and realise the importance of early diagnosis.
