Last week, EDEN (Erasmus+) and ValueCare (H2020) projects had the opportunity to participate as speakers in the 7th PopUp Ecosystem Webinar: Dementia in COVID-19 Times, within the PopUpEcosystem webinar series organized by our Ecosystems’ Team.
The EDEN presentation – Embracing DEmeNtia – co-creation with persons living with dementia, relatives, professionals and civil society organisations, made by Henriette Hansen representing the project’s Coordination Team, focussedon the driving force behind it: the increasing number of people living with dementia in the EU, and the need to have a common approach in Europe towards this important societal challenge, which has been surly worsted by the COVID–19 pandemic. The advice given by the healthcare authorities to stay at home and self-isolate made vulnerable groups feel even more excluded. The holistic approach endorsed by the project, which is aimed at promoting a strong collaboration link between professional caregivers, relatives and the civil society has the final scope of enhancing better quality of life for people living with dementia and their families alike. The “community” approach promoted by EDEN has proven its value even in health emergency situations like the one provoked by COVID-19.
ValueCare – Valuecare Horizon 2020 Project – Co-design activities in Covid-19 time, presented by Stefania Macchione representing one of the pilot sites involved in the project focussing on mild cognitive impairment, aims to deliver outcome-based integrated care to older people to improve their quality of life and of their families, while also making the European health and social care systems more sustainable. During the presentation, details have been given on how the ValueCare vision and methodology, supported by a robust, secure and scalable digital solution to be tested and evaluated in seven large-scale pilots in Europe, will be the result of co-creation activities between the project partners and the end-users (older people and their families, health and social care professionals and managers), to better address their needs.
Co-design activities in COVID–19 time are forcing the Consortium to implement new ways to engage and work together with the ValueCare relevant actors, mostly relying on digital communication and video conferencing technologies to respect the social distancing imposed by the health emergency. Those digital tools have demonstrated their capability to support older people with dementia and caregivers online and are allowing the continuation of the co-design activities, thus avoiding major negative impacts and delays on the work planned within ValueCare project.
Read more about the projects EDEN and ValueCare on their websites and follow their social media:
EDEN website
