Retro News: Pratchett opens RICE headquarters (05 December)

28 December 2008 (19:15) Alzheimer's Appearances Terry Pratchett News News Archives

Terry Pratchett helped open the new £2 million headquarters of RICE (the Research Institute For The Care Of Older People, formally the Research Into The Care Of The Elderly) in the Royal United Hospital on December 5th, 2008.

In the ceremony he unveiled a plaque, cut the ribbon and continued his campaign for the public awareness of the need for research into Alzheimer’s.

Pratchett said, of his role in the opening, “I have first hand knowledge of the work of the institute and am delighted to be formally opening the new building in Bath.”

The charity was founded twenty years ago. It researches treatment for dementia and runs courses in caring for sufferers of the disease.

ThisIsBath.co.uk reports that Pratchett said all of the following:

“For as long as I can remember I used to type very well. I could touch type from about the age of 13.

“But a year and a half ago things started to go bad. I’m quite articulate but that’s because there are a lot of things going on in my head.

“I’m a writer that can’t write any more. But I’m lucky enough to have found ways round it, like spellcheck which does much of my work for me these days.”

The author said: “It never occurred to me to deny I’ve got it. I decided to speak my mind. There’s a saying ‘you should never let them see you bleed,’ but that’s wrong. If no one sees you bleed, no one is going to offer you a bandage.

“I was born in the generation of baby-boomers and we are getting older. The whole population is getting older.

“Baby-boomers do not believe dementia should be part of old age. We are an ageing population. In the next two decades if our Government doesn’t wake up to this, the country will be in a very bad way.

“Here is a problem with no cure and not much help. A lot more RICEs are going to be needed in the future.”