Published: 11-09-2024 16:02 | Updated: 11-09-2024 16:43

HM the Queen presents diplomas to graduates from KI’s dementia courses

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Back row: Educational management team from KI and dentist Angélica Johansson, dietitian Frida Axberg and audiologist Anastasia Alferova with their diplomas from Silviahemmet. Front row (seated, left to right): Stiftelsen Silviahemmet CEO Wilhelmina Hoffman, HM Queen Silvia, Silviahemmet board member Claes Dinkelspiel and KI president Annika Östman Wernerson. Photo: Yanan Li.

At a ceremony at Drottningholm Court Theatre on 3 September, HM Queen Silvia awarded diplomas to two doctors, a dentist, an audiologist and a dietitian, marking the end of Karolinska Institutet’s dementia courses, which were produced jointly with Stiftelsen Silviahemmet.

This year was the first time that the Silviahemmet diploma was awarded to an audiologist, Anastasia Alferova, and a dietitian, Frida Axberg.

The ceremony represented an important milestone in Karolinska Institutet’s ongoing efforts to enhance dementia care. The value of the courses was underlined during the afternoon, not just for the participants but also for the entire care sector, with its ever-increasing need for specialist skills in dementia care. 

150,000 people live with dementia in Sweden alone, a number that is set to increase with the ageing population.

“The dementia components of undergraduate medical programmes don’t cater for all the needs as there is only so much they can fit in,” says KI president Annika Östman Wernerson in her address. “Now that you’ve completed these courses, all of you will be important bearers and disseminators of knowledge, to the benefit not only of patients but also of your colleagues.”

Silviahemmet’s first qualified audiologist and dietitian in Sweden 

This year’s Silviahemmet diploma was awarded for the first time to an audiologist, Anastasia Alferova, and dietitian, Frida Axberg. 

A photograph of a woman in afternoon light bright blazer and curly brown hair holding a framed diploma.
Anastasia Alferova, Silviahemmet’s first qualified audiologist in Sweden. Photo: Susanna Sjunneryd.

The value of interprofessional collaboration, knowledge exchange and patient focus to dementia care was also emphasised by the newly certified participants. 

“I think that insight and knowledge from other professions, having a team surrounding dementia patients, will make it easier for them and their relatives to get the help, support and guidance they need to handle the disease and therefore receive better care,” says Anastasia Alferova, Sweden’s first audiologist to hold a diploma from Silviahemmet, who works with the auditory rehabilitation of adults at Karolinska University Hospital.

A picture of Frida Axberg, a fair-haired young woman in a green dress standing in front of a window and smiling at the camera.
Frida Axberg, Silviahemmet’s first qualified dietitian in Sweden. Photo: Yanan Li.

“Many of us professionals are needed in the care of elderly dementia patients, and by working with nutrition we can make great progress in many areas,” says Frida Axberg, who is the first dietitian to graduate from the multiprofessional Dementia Care from Cell to Society programme with a diploma from Silviahemmet. “I feel proud and eternally grateful to be Sweden's first dietitian to train via KI and Silviahemmet.”

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Back row: Educational management team from KI and Silvia doctors Theofanis Tsevis and Malin Resman Friis. Front row (seated, left to right): Stiftelsen Silviahemmet CEO Wilhelmina Hoffman, HM Queen Silvia, Silviahemmet board member Claes Dinkelspiel and KI president Annika Östman Wernerson. Photo: Yanan Li.

The Silviahemmet scholarship was also awarded at the ceremony, this year to Silvia Doctor Theofanis Tsevis, researcher at Karolinska Institutet’s Department of Neurobiology, Care Sciences and Society.

Annika Östman Wernerson closed proceedings by thanking the initiator of these important adult dementia courses. 

“I’d like to extend my heartfelt thanks to Queen Silvia, who started Silviahemmet 27 years ago, over which time its collaboration with KI has grown steadily stronger,” she said.