Anyone who has cared for a family member with dementia knows how terrifying it can be, and how depressing nursing home care can be. Since the first dementia village, De Hogeweyk in the Netherlands, opened in 2009, the concept of designing a safe place to live that seems more like normal life than like a hospital has spread to other parts of Europe. Here we take a deep dive into how these villages are designed and operated. The video mentions that dementia villages are expensive, costing around $70K to $90K a year per resident. That may be expensive to a European, but it's no more expensive than the standard nursing home in America, and it feels more like a retirement community. The real question is, does this system work? Raw data is hard to come by, but then how can you measure comfort and happiness, and what is it worth? -via Digg
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I have been advocating for turning defunct malls into this kind of living facility. Enclosed. Climate controlled. Cafes, shops, movie theater, doctor and dentist offices, post office, etc. Single occupancy units or small groups if constant surveillance is needed on the tenants.
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I've had several close family members with dementia, including my Dad. While these villages may be better than a nursing home, having them at their homes is probably better yet. They will get lost and confused anywhere, but at least at home they're accessing existing memories of a place they are familiar with. Moving them somewhere new means trying to both build and access new memories. That's a lot harder.
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I duno, I'm of two minds on the topic of dementia. My grandmother just turned 90 and she has late stage dementia. I'll just say this - sometimes it doesn't help to help people, but it feels good even when it doesn't help. And sometimes it actually does help. I know that sounds like a really weird statement. But I'm weird like that.
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