1. INTRODUCTION

Internursing Memocare aims to be a spitex entirely dedicated to the care of people with cognitive impairment.
Dementia is a pathology characterized by “multiple cognitive deficits including a significant memory disorder and the impairment of at least one other cognitive function, which significantly interfere with a person’s daily life”.
The epidemiological dimension and the long duration of the disease, combined with a progressive aging of the Western population, represents a challenge for welfare. Societies are called upon to guarantee the care and assistance of people with dementia, as well as to support and protect the well-being of their caregivers. Most dementia-related situations are still incurable today, however there is a range of differentiated approaches defined as “multi-modal” that contain the symptomatology and aim to preserve the person’s quality of life. At the base is a deep understanding of the disease and the consequences it causes in the life of the person and their family.

2. MISSION

Internursing Memocare wants to enhance the residual abilities of the elderly person, their personal history and their wishes. The treatments aim to provide valid individualized nursing care. The objective is to optimize the adaptation of the person with dementia to their physical and social context (prosthetic model) to accompany them during the course of the disease.

3. CONCEPTUAL MODEL

Memocare refers to the Gentlecare care model in which the three components - people, programs and physical space - work in harmony to ensure support, or prosthesis, for the person with dementia. This model is also oriented towards family members (caregivers) who are made aware and trained to care for their loved one and to identify and remove any stress factors from the environment, making it more harmonious. The person's biography is the starting tool for organizing optimal care. In particular, positive memories and stressful events that have marked the history of the person with dementia and that may influence the current symptoms will be noted.

Memocare aims to raise awareness among the population, people with dementia and their families and to involve professionals in the sector, each for their own levels of expertise, to allow for a timely and early diagnosis. The aim is to immediately implement targeted and individualized interventions through the use of medical and complementary therapies, which have scientific evidence, to prevent complications and contain the evolution of the disease.

Memocare uses a multidisciplinary team coordinated by a clinical nurse specialist in geriatrics and gerontology, supported by family nurses and clinical specialists in mental health. The care team also includes assistants trained according to the Validation method, a verbal and non-verbal communication tool aimed at disoriented or dementia-affected elderly people based on empathy, respect and human warmth.
The initial assessment of care needs is carried out by the geriatric nurse using the InterRAI HC tool. The geriatric nurse will develop a care plan and plan individualized interventions by building a prosthetic system that supports the user, characterized by three elements in relation to each other: environment, significant people who interact with the person and specific programs aimed at enhancing the resources and activities enjoyed by the person. The assistance will be characterized by:

• Increasing awareness and reducing stigma to preserve the quality of life;
• Creating an integrated support network with specialized figures who collaborate and can identify all the needs of the users (geriatric nurse, family nurse, mental health nurse, attending physicians, geriatric doctors, educators);
• Implementation of strategies and interventions for the appropriateness of care involving local services;
• Direct assistance, support for the caregiver and the family through:
  - Targeted interventions to identify strategies that can contain the stress factors in the environment surrounding the person with dementia;
  - Identify and propose support services for the caregiver (example: self-help groups); o Economic and social support thanks to the social worker who is responsible for offering help and advice on the matter;
  - Use of technological tools that can enhance and stimulate the residual abilities of the person affected by dementia and relieve the caregiver from his or her supervisory role.
  - Collaboration with complementary therapists and external bodies specialized in integrative therapies activities that promote psychophysical and emotional balance by applying complementary methods (validation method, music therapy, occupational therapy, pet therapy, doll therapy, etc.)