Queen Silvia awards healthcare workers graduation certificates in special ceremony

Queen Silvia of Sweden has presided over the graduation ceremony of the Silviahemmet programme for healthcare workers. 

On Wednesday, 7 September, Her Majesty arrived at the Theater of Drottningholm Palace, where she was joined by the Chair of the Silviahemmet Foundation, the Rector of Sophiahemmet University, the Rector of the Karolinska Institute and the Rector of Marie Cederschiöld University. 

The Queen handed out “brooches and diplomas” to all new Silvia Sisters and Silvia Nurses graduating from the programme, as well as aid workers, dentists, dental hygienists, speech therapists and deacons who carried out studies on dementia in collaboration with the Silviahemmet Foundation. 

The final honour was the Alzheimer Life Foundation’s scholarship, which was awarded to Pär Hägglund, the deputy head of administration of the Municipality of Härnösand. Mr Hägglund received the prize because of the model he created to support people with early manifestations of dementia and their relatives. 

Queen Silvia has long been committed to the Silviahemmet programme, which she founded in 1996 to train healthcare professionals in working specifically with dementia patients. 

Over the last 27 years, the programme has expanded to include more and more areas of healthcare, including dentistry and speech therapists. 

Her Majesty has always presided over the most important moments of the Silviahemmet programme, and the foundation is quartered in Drottningholm, where they host their classes. 

Over the last couple of years, Queen Silvia has expanded her interest in dementia work to include other entities other than Silviahemmet. In the summer, she travelled with her eldest daughter, Crown Princess Victoria, to Helsingborg. This city was built to help dementia patients feel like they are living a normal life while at the same time being closely monitored by expert workers. 

Silviahemmet has always collaborated with Sophiahemmet University, which also has a nursing training programme, of which Princess Sofia became patron shortly after her marriage to Prince Carl Philip.