Memory is a project of Need Institute in collaboration with EngageMinds Hub Research Centre of Cattolica University, whose main objective is to promote the active engagement of patient with initial memory deficit, so as to increase the individual awareness of mnestic functions and of the importance of detecting the early symptoms of a memory disorder.

The project aims also to create an operational network connecting the citizen, the General Pratictioners, the specialists and  the clinics specialized in the diagnosis and treatment of memory diseases from a prevention perspective.

Specifically the project aims to the following objectives:

1. Promote an activity of education of the elderly in terms of greater awareness of how memory works, how brain changes over time and which are the measures for maintaining a young and active mind. An increased awareness would lead to an engagement of the patient in his own health care, through the development of a more attentive and conscious attitude towards his mental and physical health.

2. Implement for each patient a screening of cognitive abilities – whose reduction represents the symptom of the majority of neurodegenerative diseases – carried out by nonclinical tests useful to detect possible deficits in a preliminary phase so as to recommend specialists visits.

3. Propose awareness campaign on a territorial basis to promote engagement of the elderly with early memory disorders, in collaboration with ATS metropolitana di Milano.

Foundation for Cure and Rehabilitation of Neurological Diseases

Need (Neurological Expertise & Dedication) Institute main objective is the promotion of medical research for the treatment and rehabilitation of neurological diseases.

By working in this way, Need Institute aspires to a complete satisfaction of the needs of neurological patients, helping them approach and benefit from the results of medical research, in order to improve and possibly solve their problems related to their diseases.

Statutory Aims

The Foundation according to its institutional purposes encourages research, study and promotional activities in order to achieve the following aims:

1. carry out firsthand or support projects and clinical research;
2. participate to research calls;
3. carry out training activities, courses and workshops, directly or indirectly related to the Foundation’s areas of interest;
4. promote and organize symposiums, congresses, meetings and events in order to enhance the Foundation’s visibility to make people aware of its aims and to raise funds to support its purposes;
5. stipulate agreements and contracts to entrust part of the activities and of the implementation of specific studies or counseling to third parties;
6. provide subsidies, awards and scholarships;
7. carry out marketing activities that are relevant to and instrumental for pursuing the institutional objectives, including registration and ownership of the research results.

The Foundation achieves its aims directly or in collaboration with other Foundations, Research Institutes, Associations, Organizations or Universities whose main purpose is to study and take care of neurological patients.

Need Institute, through an interdisciplinary approach, focuses on Translational Research by promoting deep clinical and biomolecular characterization of neurological patients and scientific research, which aims to translate basic scientific findings from laboratories settings into clinical practice.

An important part of the Foundation’s activity aims at developing an integrated interdisciplinary approach  intended to acquire bio-molecular and clinical data of neurological patients, in order to obtain useful information to improve pharmacological treatments and rehabilitation therapies for their diseases.

Consequently, among its purposes in the field of neurological diseases, Need Institute intends to realize a flexible interactive network composed by experts from many different fields, doctors, neurobiologists, psychologists, bioengineers in order to provide a high-quality health care based on Precision Medicine.

Last but not least, the involvement of Need Institute in supporting patients communities by promoting meaningful engagement on their own health care and making them aware of research projects. All these activities aim to promote an improvement of treatment services and the taking in charge of elderly with cognitive and motor decline, following regional and national guidelines.

Place4Carers is a project whose aim is to co-generate, develop and implement a new social service for caregivers (those who take care) of elderly patients in the remote rural areas in order to improve social inclusion and quality of life of both patients and their families.

The project intends to identify the particular characteristics (needs, difficulties and expectations) in terms of caregiving of patients in the rural area of  Val camonica and, according to the information, identify the kind of social support or community services needed.

“ageing-in-place”:  the importance of active ageing in one’s home or community

Ageing is a dynamic process influenced by several factors; internal, our genes, and external, social and cultural environment we “live” during our life. The external environment has a great impact on our quality of life as well as on our ageing process.

The term“place” (the focus of this project) cannot be reduced to its physical dimension (for example the name of the city we grew up in). By talking about place we refer to a social dimension, involving relationships with others, to an emotional and psychological dimension, which has to do with a sense of belonging and attachment and a cultural dimension, which has to do with values, beliefs and symbolic meaning shared by the community.

Thus the home-space enables all of us to make and preserve our life history meanings, through which a social identity can be preserved, even in cases of disease and disability, granting preservation of integrity of the self. This highlights the importance of activities designed to encourage ageing in place, enabling older people to remain in their own homes in the community, while ageing, maintaining an active, autonomous and participatory standard of life, as independently as  possible, rather than moving in residential units.

More than one out of ten adults is involved in informal caregiving activities, providing help and support to a dysfunctional or non self-sufficient family member. Caregivers, usually partners, sons or nephews of the older person, act as key interlocutors with social and health services, support patients compliance and manage all the activities related to the medical history of the patient; last but not least they are the main psychological support and often the only social reference point for non self-sufficient older person.

Assuming a caregiving role can be stressful and burdensome in terms of time, costs and effort as well as from an emotional and psychological point of view. Several scientific studies have shown that caregivers have an extremely high risk of developing emotional and physical disorders, such as insomnia, tiredness, depression and  weight problems, with a consequent reduction of their quality of life and a greater need of psychological support compared with general population.

Ageing in place faces more than a few obstacles, especially in more remote and sparsely populated rural areas. Generally speaking, there is little knowledge about ageing in rural and remote areas.  Literature has highlighted the major risk of social isolation and feeling of loneliness for older people living in these areas, compared with their peers living in urban areas. The territorial differences, especially concerning access to services, between town and country, can lead to very specific and different needs for the older rural residents and their caregivers.

Val Camonica is one of the largest valleys of the central Alps in eastern Lombardy, it extends about 100 km. In this area ageing index (calculated as the ratio of number of people over 65 and number of people under 14) is higher than the Lombard average. Val Camonica is divided in 44 municipality, each characterised taking into account difficult/easy access to services, level of infrastructures, economic prosperity and  demographics trends (positive/negative). Many of the municipalities are between 20 and 40 km away from hospitals and health facilities and sometimes even more.

Based on these premises Val Camonica offers an ideal location to increase knowledge of ageing process in rural and remote areas and to implement new services for increasing collaboration between family caregivers and welfare system.

Accurately identifying difficulties and specific needs of rural areas, with regard to coordination and communication between health and social care services,  is the first step to develop an effective and sustainable action.

The project combines scientific purposes and active involvement in order to contribute to the development of a more accessible, effective and economically sustainable health and social care service dedicated to caregivers of senior citizens in Val Camonica.

In particular aims to:

1. Identify specific needs (support, social inclusion measures, information gathering, etc.) of caregivers of senior citizens resident in Val Camonica
2. Verify costs sustained by families for their beloved ones care and understand criticisms of welfare service
3. Co-generate, develop and implement more accessible and sustainable services to support caregivers of elderly citizens
4. Test a possible transferability and adaptability of the service into context similar to that of Val Camonica

Designed as a Community Based Partecipatory Research Place4Carers is a project involving Need Institute Foundation, Cattolica University, Polytechnic of Milan and ATSP Val Camonica.