In 2016, DKI Jakarta Provincial Government (Pemprov) in collaboration with ALZI inaugurated the Purple Troops to realise a dementia-friendly and age friendly city of Jakarta. For the first phase, 200 members of the Purple Troop consisted of doctors, nurses, cadres from the DKI Health Service, Social Service, Supervision and Control (P3S) officers from the Jakarta Social Service, and ALZI volunteers. The creation of the Purple Troops (Pasukan Ungu) is hoped to help make Jakarta a dementia-friendly and age-friendly capital. According to the Assistant Secretary for the People’s Welfare Fatahillah, there were 481 doctors under the DKI Health Service attending a workshop on dementia screening in the Purple Troops training in 2016 (Jakarta Resmikan Pasukan Ungu Bantu Penderita Demensia, 2016).

The Purple Troops are trained to check signs of dementia, promote awareness, engage in preventive efforts and public education among the citizens of Jakarta citizens to educate about dementia-friendly environments. The DKI Jakarta Health Office has mobilized the Knock of the Door with Heart Service (KPLDH) consisting of teams of doctors, midwives, and nurses to deal with issues around dementia. KPLDH team together with community cadres such as PKK or Jumantik, go from house to house to collect information on people affected by dementia. Currently the team is focusing on slums, densely populated, flats, and lower middle-class areas. The KPLDH team received training from Indonesian Alzheimer’s Foundation on methods for screening dementia symptoms (Priherdityo, 2016). However, since the responsible Governor for this program lost his position, it is unclear if the program is still ongoing.

References:

Jakarta Resmikan Pasukan Ungu Bantu Penderita Demensia. (2016). BeritaSatu. https://www.beritasatu.com/kesehatan/387342/jakarta-resmikan-pasukan-ungu-bantu-penderita-demensia

Priherdityo, E. (2016). Perawat Demensia Rentan Jadi “Pasien Kedua.”