The FRDS was set up to provide one-off financial support to public or private hospitals or clinics, or associations, caring for people suffering from neurodegenerative diseases, by financing new infrastructures or supporting new projects, so that these institutions can better care for patients, and thus improve their quality of life and that of their carers, with the aim of providing them with an alternative source of financing.

Any project aimed at improving the management of these diseases or the quality of life of sufferers and their families can be submitted by e-mail to hc.sdrf@ofni.

The projects supported by the Foundation are of the order of:

  • infrastructure;
  • acquisition of equipment;

  • research, information and dissemination of knowledge;

  • training, conferences and support for patients and their families.

Infrastructure

The first category covers infrastructure projects such as the construction of buildings to house psychiatric services, neurodevelopment consulting services, child psychiatry services, respite rooms for relatives, workshops for people with severe mental handicaps, and living facilities for people with autism.

Acquisition of equipment

A second category covers grants for the acquisition of equipment at the request of state or private hospitals or universities. These have included magnetic resonance equipment, electronic microscopes, surgical robots, eye-tracking computers for the speech-impaired and mobility-impaired, and specialized wheelchairs.

Research, information and dissemination of knowledge

Funding for research projects is the third category of projects supported by the Foundation. These include a multi-dimensional, multi-disciplinary research project on brain plasticity in premature newborns, a pre-series of medical devices to aid in the ultra-early diagnosis of schizophrenia, better detection and understanding of Coordination Acquisition Disorder in children, an early screening test for Autism Spectrum Disorder, the implementation of an intervention and identification program for bipolar disorders, a digital device for detecting pain in non-communicative dementia sufferers, and translational research into deep brain simulation.

Training, conferences and support for patients and their families

A final category covers projects financed by the Foundation involving training in fields such as mental health or cognitive rehabilitation, the organization by various associations of respite stays for caregivers or weekend getaways for families of sick children or adults, or the creation of artistic interventions and performances in hospitals.