BU Research Blog

Mary O’Malley and Dr. Michelle Heward represented Bournemouth University Dementia Institute (BUDI) at the 31^st Alzheimer’s Disease International Conference in Budapest from 21-24^th April 2016.

Mary presented a poster showcasing her PhD research ‘Alzheimer’s disease International (ADI) – “You can get completely disorientated and reason is because all the corridors look the same” – a qualitative study into the orientation experiences and design preferences of older people with memory difficulties living in retirement complexes’. Michelle presented a paper on ‘Fire safety in the home: local lessons – global reach’ as part of a session on dementia friendly communities.

This years conference theme was ‘Dementia: Global Perspective, Local solutions’, with a strong local, national and international presence creating unique synergies and inspiring new ideas in the pursuit of making a difference in the lives of those living with dementia.

Whilst at the conference Mary and Michelle caught up with Hilary and Peter Paniccia, from Somerset, who have previously participated in several BUDI projects. Hilary lives with dementia, and is supported by her husband Peter (who is now chief photographer at many national and international dementia events). They have become real advocates of dementia awareness and are both actively involved in numerous groups and projects, including the European Working Group of People with Dementia. They really bring to life the phrase ‘living well with dementia’ – a true inspiration to us all. You can see Hilary and Peter speaking about how they live well with dementia in our ‘living well with dementia’ video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qWUZFiy2Qy8.

Mary O’Malley and Michelle Heward