Volunteers from The Sint Maarten Alzheimer Foundation recently held a presentation during the Rotary St. Martin Sunrise breakfast meeting on the Topic: “Dementia needs Action Now”.
Ms. Vivvet Cramer a Guyanese national residing in Sint Maarten shared her experiences and challenges as a young person living with dementia and presented her thoughts about what she expects from her caregivers, from government and from society.
Drs. Raymond Jessurun, the Secretary of the local Alzheimers Foundation and also Regional representative of Alzheimer Disease International presented an update on the recent developments and calls of actions to address dementia as a development priority in our region. The Caribbean region will be the region with the highest increase of persons affected by dementia, with a doubling of the amount of persons with dementia foreseen in the next 15 years. There are now already more persons living with dementia than with HIV/AIDS, which demands action NOW.
Rotary Club of St. Martin Sunrise as a member of Rotary District 7020, who is a partner of Alzheimer Disease International in the Caribbean Dementia Awareness Advocacy Alliance, is committed to providing its support locally to raise the awareness and the advocacy for a dementia friendly Sint Maarten and to achieve respect and the realization of all the human rights of persons with dementia.
President Marcellia Henry stated that as part of the Rotary has Heart initiative, the club selected Sint Maarten Alzheimer Foundation to be the recipient of this year’s donation. The club supports the wonderful work and awareness that this foundation has been bringing to this condition that is affecting many families in our community.
Rotary Club of St. Martin Sunrise meets every Tuesday at the Ginger Bread Café Restaurant at the Belair Hotel at 7:00AM to 8:00AM. . For more information on the club visit us at sxmsunrise.org or email su***************@ho*****.com, we are also on Facebook: Rotary Club of Saint Martin Sunrise.