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About Dementia Services Information and Development Cent

We_They was set up in 1998 in response to a growing demand for resources for practitioners working in the area of dementia and care of older people. We provide educational courses and training days to staff providing services to people with dementia in many different care settings around the country. The feedback from these courses assures us that we are meeting an important need in the public, private and voluntary sectors.

Our information and consultancy service demonstrates the increased interest there is in the needs of people with dementia in all sorts of settings.We have a well stocked library with many books and journals.

Our research activities contribute to the development of timely, responsive and accessible interventions for people with dementia. We endeavour to influence policy development and contribute to the design of best practice models for those affected by dementia.

The Centre is based in Hospital 4 at St James's Hospital in Dublin and our staff work closely with staff of the Memory Clinic, the Department of Old Age Psychiatry, Medicine for the Elderly and Medical and Social Gerontology at Trinity College Dublin.

Key associations with others working in the field of dementia in Ireland and internationally have been established. Such links encourage an effective combination of the academic, research and service development aspects of the Centre's mission. The Centre is fully committed to promoting best practice in all aspects of dementia care and to improving and expanding services for all those affected by dementia..

Our population is ageing and we know that dementia is an age related disability which can last many years. However we also need to keep in mind that dementia can affect younger people including those in their thirties, forties and fifties for whom few specific services are available.

The increased prevalence of Alzheimer's Disease in people with Down Syndrome has highlighted the unique and specialist needs of this group and the importance of planning appropriate services. The challenge for the Centre is to respond to the needs of all those affected by dementia and to work in partnership with different occupational groups to reduce the impact of dementia on the inpidual, the family caregivers, professionals and society at large.