Medical tourism in friendly environments for patients with dementia

PDF (ελληνικά)
Published: Apr 12, 2019
DOI: https://doi.org/10.12681/jret.17723
Keywords:
Dementia cities third-age friendly-age infrastructure
Κωνσταντίνα Βασιλική Ιακώβου
Αριστοτέλειο Πανεπιστήμιο Θεσσαλονίκης
https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4560-4751
Ελένη Αντωνιάδου
Ελληνική Εταιρεία Νόσου Alzheimer & Συγγενών Διαταραχών
Μάγδα Τσολάκη
Ελληνική Εταιρεία Νόσου Alzheimer & Συγγενών Διαταραχών Αριστοτέλειο Πανεπιστήμιο Θεσσαλονίκης
Abstract

This overview paper investigates a recent field for the development of a new kind of tourism in Greek area. Medical services provided in Greece are of high quality. It is also well known that a remarkable tourist product, satisfying all age groups, is available in Greece. Furthermore, the increase of life expectancy has created a new perspective for tourism aimed at older adults, including medical tourism. The process of aging has a direct relationship with the cognitive decline of older adults and therefore with all the diseases directly related with it. Combining the high quality tourist product offered by our country with the needs of patients with dementia, in this paper, we investigate the creation of tourist products, friendly for people with dementia. Because of their specialized needs, the inclusion of all these activities in dementia friendly communities providing appropriate services and infrastructure is suggested. Since in the international literature there is an extensive reference services that are friendly to patients with dementia, the requirements for building dementia-friendly infrastructure were mostly investigated, with a focus easy orientation and navigation in new and unfamiliar environments (hotels and medical infrastructures). Since the issue of autonomous navigation is crucial both inside and outside of specialized structures (hotels/hospitals) the concept of dementia-friendly cities is also discussed.

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Ελένη Αντωνιάδου, Ελληνική Εταιρεία Νόσου Alzheimer & Συγγενών Διαταραχών


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