Dr. Carlo Galasso from the Brussels office Hospitality Europe reports that the European Commission has approved the funding application for the PREPARE project, an acronym in English for “Preventing Cognitive Decline through Rehabilitation and Mental Stimulation.” The project focuses on both elderly people and individuals with intellectual disabilities, who are at greater risk of cognitive decline and related conditions such as dementia or neurodegenerative diseases.

By concretely implementing the EU mental health strategy and integrated care work plan, the PREPARE project will design innovative programs of “physical and cognitive maintenance and stimulation,” based on the experiences and best practices of the project’s partnership, which includes European centers of the Order and the Hospitaller Sisters in Spain, Portugal, France, and Italy.

It is of fundamental importance that centers assisting people with frailty or disabilities guarantee the possibility of preserving cognitive functions, particularly through the most effective rehabilitation programs to improve memory performance, cognitive flexibility, decision-making autonomy, as well as attention and concentration skills.

Participating in the project are the Hospitaller Sisters’ centers in Funchal, Betanzos, and Marseille, and the Order’s centers in Paris, Gijón, and Solbiate con Cagno.