the essential
Ensuring that people with Alzheimer’s disease and related diseases live in the best possible conditions, as well as the caregivers who surround them, is one of the goals of the World Day for the sick. In this Olympic year, sport will be in the spotlight on September 24 at the MVA.
Khédidja Cornu is the president of the departmental association France Alzheimer, whose head office is located at the Maison de Vie Associative (MVA) in Villeneuve-sur-Lot. “We have 4 branches in the department where we welcome patients, caregivers, carers and many volunteers who come to help us. We are working more and more with care centres and we have just signed an agreement with the Pôle de Santé Vallée du Lot to provide training to caregivers and relatives of patients within the establishment. It is thanks to the experience of our volunteers, who have been, directly or indirectly, confronted with this neurodegenerative disease that we can train those around them in the right actions, the right words, the right reactions to have in the event of crises or any other problem related to daily life”.
A day dedicated to care through sport and its benefits
Convinced of the benefits of adapted physical activities, the France Alzheimer and related diseases association of Lot et Garonne has decided to highlight them during the next World Alzheimer’s Day, in this Olympic year, which takes place on Tuesday September 24 from 2 p.m. at the Maison de la Vie Associative.
“During this afternoon, we will first offer various adapted physical activity workshops led by our partners, the Siel Bleu association and the students of the bac pro services and BP JEPS section of the Lot-et-Bastides high school” specifies the president. “Secondly, on the one hand, we will sign the department-carer charter with the vice-president of the departmental council, Annie Messina, in charge of the elderly and medical demography, and on the other hand, we will present the caring city trophy to the mayor Gérard Régnier and the elected officials, Xavier Clerc, David Goncalvès and Michel Laville. Finally, in a 3rd phase, we will offer a polar ball, festive and inclusive led by our partner the Duo Caravelle, to all the participants, carers, sick people and visitors who took part in this afternoon”.
So, why adapted physical activities? For Khédidja Cornu, as for all members of France Alzheimer. “We are convinced of the benefits of adapted physical activities, both for sick people and for caregivers. These benefits are physical (motor skills, muscle building, balance, etc.), but also psychological, in terms of self-esteem in particular. Physical activities also help to foster social ties, break down barriers and leave the disease in the locker room for a moment, as Joël Jaouen, our president at the national level, says.”
Because everyone can be confronted with this disease at one time or another, it remains important to find out about it, and this day is made for that.
