PRESS RELEASE
Barcelona, April 16th 2020
Professionals specializing in Alzheimer's or dementia during the pandemic
Fundació ACE opens the first phone line for caregivers of people with Alzheimer's during confinement
• Fundació ACE experts agree that emotional support and symptom management information are the most widely used consultations among caregivers
• Time routines, stimulation activities and habits are fundamental aspects that must be taken into account, depending on the entity, so that a person with dementia and his or her environment can cope with the confinement situation
In view of the situation generated by the SARS-COV-2 coronavirus, Fundació ACE offers society a telephone line for information and advice for carers of people with Alzheimer's disease.
The initiative aims to help desaturate official lines such as 061, as well as to provide caregivers with adequate information in time. Professionals from Fundació ACE from various disciplines (neurology, geriatrics, neuropsychology, psychology and nursing), whose usual clinical practice is dealing with people with dementia, will attend to calls made on 93 430 47 20, Monday to Friday from 9 am to 6 pm.
With a Barcelona area code, the line is open to anyone in the state who is in charge of a person with Alzheimer's or dementia, in case they need general information on managing crisis situations, on activities to do at home, on symptoms of dementia or if they want emotional support and containment.
In addition, Fundació ACE has set up a telephone line exclusively for health professionals which it has made available to Salut and the Barcelona Health Consortium. This hotline, which will be open from Monday to Sunday from 9 a.m. to 8 p.m., will meet the specific demands of professionals from neurology and social work.
SARS-COV-2 in people with Alzheimer's
People over 65 are a risk group and therefore specific prevention and protection measures are essential to ensure their health and safety.
In this context, in which confinement is mandatory, it is relevant to pay attention to people with dementia or Alzheimer's, since they usually have a routine set up that allows them to function with a certain amount of autonomy for as long as possible, but this has suddenly been interrupted.
The team of experts at Fundació ACE agrees that drawing up one's own schedule is essential. "Dementia patients have fewer intellectual and emotional resources to manage the lack of mobility and the cessation of regular activities resulting from the state of alarm," says Dr. Silvia Gil, a neurologist at Fundació ACE. "To minimize the cognitive and psychological impact in this situation, we recommend maintaining a schedule of routines at home".
Home confinement can generate situations in which emotions are uncontrollable, according to the caregivers who are contacting the Fundació ACE team these days. The advice is unanimous in this sense: change activity, do not enter into discussion and keep calm and, if it doesn't work, contact the referring doctor.
More information on this link.