On the 16th to 18th August 2019, Homage was part of the Alzheimer’s Disease International 21st Asia Pacific Regional Conference held in Hotel Istana, Malaysia. The theme for this year’s conference was Dementia: A Life-Cycle Approach II – Care, Educate, Prevent. More than 100 speakers from over 24 countries came together to talk about dementia.
With individuals and representatives coming from across the Asia Pacific region such as Indonesia, Singapore, Thailand, Japan, India, Malta and even beyond, it was an event filled with diversity coming together for one cause — dementia.
This year’s conference also focused on championing the voices of young people beyond country borders to empower other youths out there and challenge traditional “boundaries” to advocate and play a role in the awareness of dementia.
Gillian Tee, Homage’s co-founder and CEO, kicked off the first session of Day 1 with a sharing titled “Home Care Best Practices”, talking about using technology to transform the caregiving experience for the elderly and how Homage is filling the gap in bringing on-demand personalised home care as a holistic care solution.
“Technology can be an enabler to reduce cost and improve the well-being and the lives of the people you care for.” – Gillian Tee
Kevin sharing with the audience (Photo: Northart Design)
On Day 2, our Head of Expansion for Homage Malaysia, Kevin Hoong talked about his journey as a carer and delved into his caregiving experience as a youth for his late father.
Melissa Chan, our Head of Community and Outreach and who is also the founder of Project We Forgot, spoke in few sessions on Day 2 and 3 about the shift from informal care to formal care, the challenges of caregiving & how youths should pay more attention to dementia.
Melissa was also on the panel discussion to talk about dementia as a global health priority from an international standpoint.
(from L-R); 1. Klaus Zimmermann AM, CommonAge Chief Executive, Australia, 2. Sean Mangion, Head Of Secretariat at Parliamentary Secretariat for Persons with Disability & Active Ageing, Government of Malta, 3. Glenn Rees, the Chairman of Alzheimer’s Disease International, 4. Melissa Chan, Head of Community and Outreach, Homage, Singapore, 4. Chris Humphrey, Director of Production, A+E NETWORKS ASIA 5. Martin Vandendyck, World Health Organisation (Photo: NorthArtDesign)
The conference highlighted the concerted effort for individuals with dementia in various parts of the world — from dementia-friendly banking in Hong Kong to a dementia-friendly mall in Malaysia, the experiential journey of young caregivers and how conversations on dementia should start in the younger generation, and even the application of innovation and technology in the world of dementia today.
We were truly honoured to be a part of supporting caregivers and persons of dementia across the region, and be given the opportunity to speak as thought leaders representing Homage.
(Photo: Northart Design)
We sincerely thank everyone who dropped by our booth during the conference where we got to connect with individuals of different backgrounds and sectors and we look forward to seeing more faces in the future.
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