As you may recall, IPA has put more
emphasis on advocacy and public policy
in recent years. In this issue’s column, I
am providing you, our members, with a brief
update on this initiative. The focus of the
Advocacy and Public Policy Initiative has been
on dementia care. As a first step, IPA
embarked on an effort to gather information on
the diagnosis and treatment of dementia in different
regions in the world so that we could
learn more about the barriers to dementia care
in these countries. To this end, focus groups
were conducted in Europe in 2006 and in Asia
in 2007. The results of the findings were published
in the IPA Bulletin (January 2007 and
May 2008).
During the recent ICAD meeting in Chicago
(26 July to 1 August 2008), we held three focus
groups from Latin America. The coordinator of
the focus groups project was Ken Shulman and
the facilitators included Ricardo Allegri, João
Carlos Barbosa Machado, Jacobo Mintzer,
David Resnikoff and me (Helen Fung-kum
Chiu). Each group consisted of four to six participants
with one group from Brazil, another
from Mexico, and the third group from
Argentina and Chile. We were very pleased
that for the Brazilian focus group we had a
total of eight participants! The participants of
all three groups were very enthusiastic, and we
learned of the differences in the treatment of
people with dementia between these countries.
We extend our thanks to all of the participants
for their time and input. The findings will be
published in a future issue of our IPA Bulletin.
Building on the information we have
learned, we have begun our next project to
improve dementia care in different parts of the
world. In order to accomplish this, we have
initiated a collaboration with the Alzheimer’s
Disease International (ADI). This project is
spearheaded by IPA leaders — Anne Margriet
Pot and Jacobo Mintzer — along with ADI leaders — Orien Reid, Daisy Acosta and Marc
Wortmann. The project aims to help participants
from different countries to close the gap
between what we know to be successful care
and what is done in their own countries
through creating a structure in which participants
can learn from each other and from
experts in the field of dementia care. Our
intent is to begin in Europe and use this experience
as our prototype for other regions of the
world. I would like to express my deep appreciation
to Anne Margriet and Jacobo for their
great commitment and devotion to this
project. Already, they have met with
officials in several countries in Europe
and obtained their support. They have
also devoted a lot of effort to obtain
funding support for the project.
Apart from this relationship with
ADI, IPA is also exploring developing
collaborations in dementia advocacy
with other organizations like the
Alzheimer’s Association of the United
States. In addition, there was a symposium
on IPA’s Advocacy and Public
Policy Initiative in the World
Psychiatric Association’s (WPA) congress
in Prague in September 2008.
Presenters included: Edmond Chiu,
Carlos de Mendonça Lima, Jacobo
Mintzer, Anne Margriet Pot and me
(Helen Fung-kum Chiu).
Next, I am pleased to report that our
next International Meeting will be held
in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil form 4-7 May
2009. We will hold the meeting in collaboration
with our IPA affiliate,
Associação Brasileira de
Neuropsiquiatria Geriátrica. The scientific
program is now taking shape and
promises to be of very high standard.
Under the strong leadership of the cochairs,
Jerson Laks and João Carlos
Barbosa Machado, I am confident that
the meeting will be a great success.
Rio is a very attractive city — vibrant
and lively. So please mark your diary
and book your plane ticket for this
exciting event.
Finally, I would like to take this
opportunity to express my great appreciation
to Myriad Pharmaceuticals.
Two years ago, we approached Myriad
with this new and unique concept of a
corporate partner relationship. They
greeted it with interest and we were
fortunate that they recognized the great
potential for their organization, for IPA
and for the mental health care of older
people throughout the world. Myriad
became our first Corporate Partner and
we have developed a true partnership
that is treasured mutually. For
instance, we have developed the focus
groups on dementia care jointly and
this project has proven to be very useful
for us to gather information on barriers
to dementia care in different
regions of the world. In addition, they
helped IPA celebrate our 25th anniversary
at our 2007 Congress in Osaka
with an outstanding satellite presentation
and a jubilee memento gift for
each of our congress delegates.
Myriad has also shown its unique
brand of leadership and compassion in
the field of psychogeriatrics with its
support of the arts in dementia series.
In addition to a dance performance,
you may have had the opportunity to
see the Portraits from the Mind art
exhibition of William Utermohlen, an
artist who was diagnosed with
Alzheimer’s disease and continued to
paint throughout the progression of
the disease. It was quite a powerful
illustration of the impact on his talent
and his spirit by this debilitating disease.
Regrettably, I have to inform you
that Myriad’s product, flurizan, failed to
achieve significance in the US Phase III
trial. Therefore, Myriad has decided to
discontinue development of this compound
and to no longer pursue
dementia care as a business initiative.
As a result, this means that they will
no longer collaborate with IPA as a
corporate partner. Looking back, I
think both organizations have benefited
a lot from this relationship and IPA
has treasured this opportunity to work
with Myriad on projects where the missions
of both organizations intersected.
We thank them for their support of IPA
and of the care of older people worldwide
and wish them continued success
in their endeavors.
Reprinted from IPA Bulletin, Volume 25, Number 3
Copyright 2010 International Psychogeriatric Association
