25 years of ADI - Introduction

Introductory message

Marc Wortmann, Executive Director

When people ask me how things are going at ADI, I always tell them: we haven’t found a cure. Many of us working in this area would welcome the day that a cure is found for Alzheimer’s disease and other dementias.

However, we must remember that, while awaiting this breakthrough, we must continue to live with this devastating disease as best as we possibly can. It is important that we persist in educating the world and letting them know there is still life after a diagnosis of dementia and help is available.

ADI is doing well after 25 years working hard to promote these very important messages worldwide. Working alongside national Alzheimer associations and partner organisations, such as Alzheimer Europe and Alzheimer Iberoamerica, we have now begun to consider our next steps in strengthening this movement and I am certain that is going to happen.

I feel very privileged to be working, day-by-day, with so many dedicated and motivated people in the global dementia movement, as part of associations, services, research and industry. This publication presents just a few of those who have been crucial to strengthening the work of ADI by helping to raise awareness, collect funds, influence policy makers or support people with dementia and their carers. There is always so much to be done that I have never faced a dull moment in the eleven years I have worked in this field, seven years in the Netherlands and now four years for ADI.

I believe that working together on solutions, no matter what difficulties you face, is the real purpose of life and this is reinforced in this book. I hope this spirit will touch you as well and I am sure ADI will become stronger and make even more progress in the years to come, together with our member associations. It is essential for people with dementia and their carers that we continue to make a difference!

I hope you enjoy reading this publication and feel inspired by the work of so many committed pioneers and advocates around the world!

The beginning

Nancy Emerson Lombardo

There is a story behind how it happened. I was instrumental in getting people to gather for the first time. It involved meeting Dr Franz Baro who was then with the World Health Organization (WHO) as well as a university professor.

As an active member of the Detroit, Michigan chapter of the Alzheimer’s Disease and Related Disorders Association, USA (now the Alzheimer’s Association) at the time and a Board member of the Association, I attended a lecture Dr Baro gave at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, USA. When he heard I was a member of the Alzheimer’s Association’s Board, he took me aside and asked me to do him a favour and carry an important message back to Jerome Stone and the rest of the Board. He had written a letter of invitation to the Alzheimer’s Association to attend a meeting in Paris, France to explore the possibility of organising an international society. The official WHO communication was sent via a New York address but Dr Baro had never received a reply. According to WHO rules, he was not allowed to send a second letter, so this communication needed to be personal; in addition the meeting was to occur in just a few weeks from then (October 1984).

As luck would have it, our next Board meeting was within the next 10 days. I carried the message to Jerry Stone who put it to our Executive Committee meeting. It was decided to accept the invitation immediately and Ethan Hitchcock volunteered to be our emissary.

At the Paris meeting it was decided to move forward and plan a formal organising meeting later that year and that occurred in Washington D.C. in 1984. Those present included myself, Jerry Stone, Henry Brodaty, Brian Moss, Anne Brown, Franceska Jordan and several other people. I sure do remember all the drafts of the bylaws, I was the one typing up most of them. Not long into this, Princess Yasmin got involved as our President…

[Read the invitation to the first meeting]

Where next?