Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis attended the contract signing ceremony, at the Maximos Mansion, for the creation of the National Model Center for Dementia, which will constitute the spearhead of the broader national intervention for the care of people with dementia, Alzheimer’s and related disorders.
The National Model Center will be developed and housed in a ground-floor space of 724 square meters in Peristeri, in a building granted by the Holy Metropolis of Peristeri. It will provide, among other things, comprehensive care services, such as cognitive enhancement, occupational therapy and music therapy, prevention, diagnosis and systematic monitoring services, counseling support for relatives and caregivers, including through telemedicine, as well as educational programs for health professionals, caregivers and young scientists.
At full development, the new structure will serve free of charge up to 160 beneficiaries daily, patients and caregivers, and approximately 5,000 annually.
At the same time, the Center will undertake the development of quality standards and evaluation methods for the continuous improvement of dementia-related structures in Greece, and will support volunteerism, awareness-raising and civil society education actions.
“Our aim is to provide knowledge, but also services and good practices to similar structures operating throughout Greek territory. At the same time, the Center will also promote research as well as the broader informing of society. Because we must combat a stigma, unfortunately, which accompanies a disease that is galloping in our time and which is also linked to the demographic trend of the population, not only in our homeland, but also in Europe as a whole”, the Prime Minister pointed out during the event.
The National Model Center for Dementia is expected to begin operating in September 2027, after work is completed for the renovation of the facilities, the acquisition of the necessary equipment and the training of the staff. It will then enter pilot operation and in the spring of 2028 the transition to regular operation is scheduled.
The creation of the Center is the result of the partnership of the state with the National Bank and 12 leading charitable foundations, which participate in the “Initiative ’21”, in cooperation with Local Government and the Church.
The renovation of the space, the purchase of the equipment and the first two years of operation of the unit will be financed thanks to a donation by the Members of the “Initiative ’21” participating in this venture, amounting to 4.49 million euros. The main implementing body is the Société Anonyme of Health Units.
The foundations participating, within the framework of the “Initiative ’21”, are: National Bank, Marianna V. Vardinoyannis Foundation, Pavlos and Alexandra Kanellopoulou Foundation, Captain Vassilis and Carmen Constantakopoulos Foundation, Public Benefit Foundation for Social and Cultural Work, Athanasios C. Laskaridis Public Benefit Foundation, Aikaterini Laskaridis Foundation, John S. Latsis Public Benefit Foundation, Athina I. Martinou Foundation, Bodossaki Foundation, TIMA Public Benefit Foundation and Onassis Foundation.
“I want to thank you from the bottom of my heart because we reached today’s point, precisely because the state managed to cooperate with civil society, as represented by the foundations, with the local Church, with the Municipality. And I would say that because this is a problem that concerns all of us, it is also addressed by all of us. We proved in practice that this cooperation can yield very specific fruits”, Kyriakos Mitsotakis noted.
“We have the opportunity to change the dementia care landscape, with prevention, early detection, therapeutic treatment and something that I consider very important, as it is often also a request of families: the training of informal caregivers who deal with the issues of people with dementia”, said Deputy Minister of Health Eirini Agapidaki on her part.
“Because I saw similar structures in the Netherlands, Germany, France, Great Britain and Switzerland, the Center will be built as it should be built, and it has nothing to envy; I would say it is even better”, stressed the Advisor of the National Bank and Coordinator of the “Initiative ’21”, Ioannis Manos.
Broader care for a disease of our time
The creation of the new Model Center comes to complement the broader intervention being implemented by the state for the support of people with dementia or related disorders, as well as their families.
In Greece today, approximately 214,000 people live with dementia and for their care there are already 33 day care centers in operation, seven day care centers with mobile units, five mobile units, while 19 new centers have been announced and are in the implementation phase.
These structures include Memory Clinics, specialized Day Centers for people with dementia, psychogeriatric clinics, as well as Day Care Centers for the Elderly (KIFI) and Elderly Care Units (MFI) that also serve people with dementia.
More broadly, the National Action Plan 2023–2028 is developing along seven axes: patient registration, prevention and community awareness, caregiver support, treatment, legislation and rights, research, education.