Wassenaar Receives 'Dementia-Friendly Municipality' Certification
The municipality of Wassenaar has received the Dementia-Friendly Municipality certificate from Alzheimer Nederland. The award recognizes Wassenaar’s commitment to providing the best possible support to people with dementia and their caregivers.
Wassenaar is now among the top 30% of municipalities in the Netherlands that can call themselves dementia-friendly. A dementia-friendly municipality encourages residents, businesses, and organizations to contribute to a society in which people with dementia can continue to participate. Entrepreneurs, care providers, community organizations, and residents, among others, play an important role in this effort.
Knowledge and understanding
Increasing knowledge and understanding of dementia is a key component of a dementia-friendly society. The municipality has therefore recently launched several initiatives, such as organizing an Alzheimer Café in Wassenaar four times a year and offering training sessions on recognizing and coping with dementia.
Last week, Ronald Zoutendijk, former Alderman and Welfare, accepted the certificate on behalf of the municipality:
“I’m very pleased with this result. The certificate is a wonderful recognition of all the hard work that’s been done. But we’re not done yet. We’ll continue to build an inclusive community where as many people as possible in Wassenaar know how best to interact with residents living with dementia.”
