Five men and a woman swim in solidarity from Lagos to Praia da Rocha

The group of swimmers – Susana Novais Santos, Paulo Sousa, Tomás Metcalfe, Brian Fortune and José Faustino – who, next Saturday, 1 September, will make the crossing between Meia Praia (Lagos) and Praia da Rocha (Portimão ), swimming for a solidary cause, met at sea trials in the Algarve.

Susana Novais Santos, neuroscientist working at the Institute of Biophysics and Biomedical Engineering of the Faculty of Sciences of the University of Lisbon, champion of open water swimming and the only Portuguese woman who has already managed to make the tough crossing of Berlengas-Peniche by swimming, has even been preparing, with the swimmer from Porto, Paulo Sousa, his first crossing of the Strait of Gibraltar. "No Portuguese woman has made this crossing", stressed Susana, speaking to Sul Informação.

This time, on Saturday, the objective is, despite everything, much easier: to swim the 13 kilometers that are between Meia Praia and Rocha, in about four hours. The long crossing is intended to raise funds for the campaign “Friends in Dementia” by the Alzheimer Portugal Association.

“As a neuroscientist, I chose a cause linked to my area of ​​research, which is my passion,” added Susana Novais Santos. «The Alzheimer Association launched the “Friends of Dementia” campaign and has been publicizing it and carrying out awareness-raising actions on the beaches, so we also decided to take the opportunity to raise funds through this initiative of ours».

The organization of the initiative calls for the public to welcome "these brave and supportive swimmers" to Praia da Rocha, around midday, but also to be "supportive and generous", contributing financially to the Alzheimer Portugal Association campaign.

“Swimming ultramarathons is difficult, but it costs nothing to help”, they emphasize.

And there are already those who want to welcome the athletes… to swim. Susana Novais Santos says that it will not be easy to accompany the group along the entire route, as the swimmers will have a support boat to accompany them and there are safety issues to be taken into account.

"But anyone who wants to can accompany us on smaller routes", for example on arrival, he admitted. There is already one swimmer who is known to be accompanying the group for part of the course: Carlos Dias, who appears in the photo above (he is the first on the left).

With the “Friends in Dementia” campaign, Alzheimer Portugal Association it also intends to respond to the most recent international calls to develop initiatives that contribute to Societies Friend of People with Dementia.

The World Health Organization's “Global Public Health Response Action Plan 2017-2025” contains seven lines of action, with the second line dealing with awareness of dementia and “friendliness”.

With regard to the European framework, the results of Alzheimer Europe's “European Dementia Monitor 2017” are highlighted, in which Portugal scores zero in terms of inclusion and friendly initiatives for people with dementia, as it has not implemented any such action. nature up to date.

This campaign has the High Sponsorship of the President of the Republic and the support of a wide range of reference partners.