About the Project
3D4ELDERLY – “3D printing to create innovative learning pathways for caregivers and staff members dealing with people with Alzheimer and elderly people with dementia” (project number: 2020-1-LT01-KA204-077896) is a project supported by the European Commission through the Erasmus+ programme, Key Action 2- Strategic partnership for adult education.
The project aims to create innovative learning pathways that increase the quality of the work of caregivers and staff members dealing with people with Alzheimer and elderly people with dementia and also to raise the quality of the life of the patients by using 3D technology.
Alzheimer is a degenerative neurological disease that affects the brain, progressively leading the patient to a state of total dependence, thus creating a very complex and difficult situation for people who take care of them. The causes of the disease are still unknown but there is a multi-factorial origin connected to various factors such as genetics, environment and lifestyle.
In addition, an important factor is the age, indeed the disease develops mainly between 75 and 85 years of age, however, this may not always also affect some younger people, while others older, over eighty or even centenarians may not find it at all.
One of the first symptoms of an Alzheimer’s patient is short-term memory loss. Some research stated that it is possible in the early stages of Alzheimer’s to recover lost memories, stimulating specific hippocampal neurons, the area of the brain responsible for recording short-term memories. For this reason, people with Alzheimer need cognitive stimulation exercises that stimulate memories, language, perceptions, reasoning, creativity, sociability and above all well-being.
The use of 3D printing will help these people by offering them a multisensory experience thanks to the tools created. This technology can be useful to support visual, tactile and therapeutic methods. The hands-on experience and this technology will help the person to receive an infinite number of requests which have a direct action on the brain areas connected to instincts and senses, with positive effects on the cognitive and relational sphere.
It lasts 22 months 01-12-2020/ 30/09/2022
Objectives & Activites
OBJECTIVES
- To prevent and awareness of Alzheimer and dementia and the early onset of the diseases.
- To raise awareness and draw attention to Alzheimer’s disease and dementia at local, national and international level.
- To increase the quality of the educational and caregiving process of staff working with people with Alzheimer and elderly people with dementia.
- To provide proper tools to caregivers and staff members.
- To create an activity tools for local and Europe-wide usage to assist in the improvement of memory in Alzheimer’s patients and those with early onset dementia.
- To increase the quality of the adult inclusive education in the countries involved.
- To increase the cooperation among European different entities working in field of disabilities, and technology development.
- To establish cooperation and partnership at the European level.
- To develop and to promote competencies related to the technology for staff and organizations working with people with Alzheimer and elderly with dementia.
- To promote a European up-skills pathway, carried out in different countries for using 3D Printing technology in different kind of work.
- To increase the quality of the education of people with those diseases for basic skills important for their life.
- To increase the quality of the technological knowledge of the partners involved and their stakeholders.
- To promote a lifelong upgrade of competences by staff and educators working as in the health as in the technological field.
ACTIVITIES
The project aims to develop:
- A guideline for caregivers to make them aware about the use of 3D Printing technology.
- A set of memory exercises developed with 3DP for people with Alzheimer and dementia to help them to recover the loss of memory.
- A web platform to collect exercises created with 3DP to be used with people with Alzheimer and dementia.
- A training for experts, caregivers and other staff to test the exercises realised and give to them the skills in using 3D printing technology.
- A therapy guide to assist in the improvement of memory in Alzheimer’s patients and those with dementia.
RESULTS
INTELLECTUAL OUTPUT 1
A guideline for caregivers about the use of 3D Printing.
The consortium will create a guideline for caregivers and staff who work with people with Alzheimer and dementia. The guideline will be a useful tool to learn how to use a 3D printer and which are the types of technology on the market suitable and easy to use.
IO1A1 – Transfer of knowledge about the basics of 3D printing concepts to the caregivers’ staff working with people with Alzheimer and elderly people with dementia
- ENGLISH (PART 1 – PART 2)
- ITALIAN (PART 1 – PART 2)
- LITHUANIAN (PART 1 – PART 2)
- SPANISH (PART 1 – PART 2)
- BULGARIAN (PART1 – PART2)
IO1 – A2: Identification of 3D printing technologies to be used in Alzheimer and elderly context
ENGLISH
ITALIAN
LITHUANIAN
SPANISH
BULGARIAN
IO1 – A3: Methodology for creating new 3D printing exercises for people with Alzheimer and elderly people with dementia
INTELLECTUAL OUTPUT 2
A set of memory exercises created with 3DP for helping
people with Alzheimer and elderly people with dementia.
A set of 15 exercises will be developed by 3D printing and suitable to use with people with Alzheimer and elderly people with dementia. All the exercises will be in STL format suitable for the Slicing software. The exercises have both technical and therapeutical specifications.
- Family Tree
- Letters for stringing exercise
- Map puzzle
- Math Domino
- Building block
- Pattern Puzzle
- Table Theater
- Mosaic Set
- Shopping
- Maze
- Reminiscence Therapy
- Tangram
- Find the story
- What is your favorite food?
- Who’s who?
- Matching Puzzle
- Shape and sizes
INTELLECTUAL OUTPUT 3
A web platform to collect exercises created with 3DP
to be used with people with Alzheimer and dementia.
The platform will be used to upload all the materials and in particular the 3D printing exercises. The goal of the platform is to create a community of caregivers and 3D printing provides that can ensure the sustainability of the project.
Please click here to download the exercises
INTELLECTUAL OUTPUT 4
A Training for experts, caregivers and other staffs involved in
the work with people with Alzheimer and elderly people with
dementia.
A training will be realised and it will consist both in a training for caregivers on the use of 3D printing and in a test phase conducted with people with Alzheimer and dementia for testing the products developed.
INTELLECTUAL OUTPUT 5
Creation of a methodological guideline (therapy guide) to
assist in the improvement of memory in Alzheimer’s patients
and those with early-onset dementia accessible to all
Alzheimer centers.
A guide manual for caregivers, for local and Europe-wide usage, will be created to assist in the improvement of memory in Alzheimer’s patients and those with early dementia. It will be composed of a theoretical part and a practical one. This guide will be a support tool for Alzheimer’s centers and for those who deal with elderly people with dementia, not only at the local but European level.
GALLERY
NEWS
The Spanish pilot of the project
Project was done between May and September because it was divided in several phases necessary to achieve the final result. Firstly, it was translated all the documents into Spanish to facilitate their use by the caregivers and the users, mainly it was important that...
The Italian Multiplier Event
On the 23th and 27th of September 2022 the Italian Multiplier Event of the project was held by CEIPES at the Si.Da office, in Palermo. During the event, called “Alzheimer and 3D technologies”, CEIPES introduced the project, its aims, and objectives, as well as results...
In the 4th Transnational Project Meeting, work and new experiences for the consortium of the project
On the 13th and 14th of September the 4th Transnational Project Meeting of 3D4ELDERLY project took place in Kaunas, Lithuania to BETI partner. As the last meeting scheduled for the end of the project, the partners met with several items on the agenda. During the...
The Bulgarian Pilot for 3D4ELDERLY project!
It is a story about a pilot phase of an innovative approach combining the new technologies and the aim for a friendly and assessable manner of supporting people with dementia. Alzheimer Bulgaria Association participates in a project for development and implementation...
The Italian Pilot phase with 3D technology to raise the quality of the Alzheimer patients’ life
On the months June and July 2022, The Italian pilot phase has started by introducing the project and its results to centres of elderly people, in different part of Sicily. Moreover, thanks to the result produced by the consortium of the project, it was possible to...
3D printing exercises for elderly people and a new platform
The consortium of 3d4elderly is happy to announce that the 3D exercises are now available in all four languages of the consortium: Italian, Spanish, Bulgarian and Polish, and also in English. The set of exercises is developed by 3D printing technology suitable to use...
Partners
