Queen Silvia promotes dementia care

Queen Silvia of Sweden visits International Vaccine Institute (IVI) in Seoul, Thursday. / Yonhap

By Noh Hyun-gi

After watching her mother suffer from dementia, Queen Silvia of Sweden can understand the wide net of the incurable disease.

As the progressive neurological disease robbed the late Alice Soares de Toledo of her memory, cognitive functions, mobility and thereby her independence, her daughter, the Queen experienced how it affected not only the patient but the entire family.

“Today more people are reaching old age, thanks to higher standards of living, of course we want to be healthy but unfortunately this is not the case for most people,” she said at the opening speech at the Sweden-Korea Dementia Forum at Bucheon Geriatric Hospital, Thursday.

More than 30 million people around the world suffer from dementia, and if we do not develop a cure, 103 million will be affected by 2050.

What surprised her most was that the nurses who took great care of her late mother had no former training. They had mastered the skill to accommodate people with dementia through hands-on experience.

This inspired Queen Silvia to found Silviahemmet, a dementia training agency for nurses and nursing assistants.

Since it opened on Valentine’s Day in 1996, the institute has been educating over 7,000 healthcare professionals a year to take care of and tend to the needs of people who develop the condition.

With her support, Sweden is at the forefront of welfare programs for dementia patients.

Hosted by the Embassy of Sweden and the Daniel Medical Foundation, the forum invited 11 speakers from Sweden and Korea to lecture on the welfare system and research advancements surrounding dementia.

Wilhelmina Hoffman, CEO of Silviahemmet and the Swedish Dementia Center, spoke about the tax-founded initiatives to help people with dementia retain their independence as much as possible.

The Swedish Dementia Center is collaboration between Stockholm University and the Queen’s institute also providing training and free-online courses for families and caregivers.

In Korea, 9.1 percent of the elderly population above age 65, or nearly 500,000 people, are estimated to have dementia. Noh Hong-in, director general of the Bureau of Senior Policy at the Ministry of Health and Welfare spoke about the early detection initiatives and government-run awareness campaigns for dementia.

Currently, over 250 community health centers offer free dementia diagnosis and the health ministry will undertake promotional activities on Sep. 21 on disease prevention.

The Korean government also subsidizes monthly medication for early stage dementia patients.

The ministry is planning to establish a new comprehensive dementia policy by June.

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