The initial project (2011-13) in the CareSam network was funded by the European Union Interreg and the main actors consisted of Roskilde University, Skåne Association of Municipalities, Metropol University College and Malmö University. The target groups CareSam addressed consisted mainly of employees in elderly care programs, policy makers, stake holder organizations as well as service user organizations. The network’s ‘sub-project 1’ included four seminars focusing on the future of elderly care and the exchange of knowledge. This series of seminars aimed to capture current issues and, enabled CareSam focus on three areas or themes, namely:
a) innovation in elderly care
b) the future of older age education and learning
c) competence in practice with an emphasis on dementia.
During 2014 – 2015, project 1 aimed to highlight old-age issues which inspires, initiates, and introduces the program, CareSam. A film was produced in different nursing home environment on the Danish and Swedish side, where employees of the Danish and Swedish municipalities were involved. In addition, a book anthology and research articles were produced by the network. CareSam has gained continued interest among stakeholders and the surrounding community, and continuous information about the project has been transferred through the internal and external information channels of the respective partners. The project has clearly contributed to closer collaboration and dialogue between employees in the Øresund Region. The meeting between different nationalities, practitioners, researchers and policy makers have been very rewarding due to different perspectives and experiences. Furthermore, the CareSam project has provided general knowledge and support both to undergraduate courses as well as employee training in Sweden and Denmark setting.