Sunday 18 March 2012

'Dementiaville'

"A 20-minute drive away from Amsterdam" (http://tinyurl.com/6lnbz2h) there is a trial going on to develop a town for dementia sufferers nicknamed 'dementiaville'. There are plans for a "£17million village to house dementia sufferers in a fake reality where carers are disguised as gardeners, hairdressers and shop assistants" (http://tinyurl.com/84v3jya) to be built in Switzerland. The idea is that the residents of the village "150 patients in 23 homes" (http://tinyurl.com/84v3jya) feel safe in the environment that is like their past, since the village is "being designed along the lines of the 1950s-style" (http://tinyurl.com/84v3jya) with the carers overseeing them in a friendly environment that also makes them secure because the carers act as their friends rather than as nurses.

At the moment the only thing to go by on how well the idea for a dementia village would work is by the trial that is going on in the Netherlands. The residents of that village "pay £4,000 monthly to live in a world they think is normal" (http://tinyurl.com/84v3jya). The reasons for carrying out the Dutch project and why plans have been drawn up for the Swiss village are because: we live in an ageing world with a number of nations with ageing populations and we need ways of dealing with this population balance that is beneficial to them and also to society. Another reason is that the Dutch experiment village has proved that "people with dementia are often restless and aggressive, but at Hogewey (Netherlands) they are relaxed and content" (http://tinyurl.com/84v3jya); this is because in dementia, sufferers "often have difficulty remembering what is happening at present but usually have firm memories of the past" (http://tinyurl.com/84v3jya), so the theme of the village puts the patients at ease.

I think that the idea is a fantastic one having had experience of volunteering in a dementia care home. I have noticed (as it says in the Daily Mail article) that they are happy and content to talk about their past lives, which they have a very good memory of, but cannot remember things such as what they did yesterday or what they had for lunch, the things in the short term. The other huge advantage of the idea is that the dementia sufferers get to continue the lives they used to have; because otherwise they tend to sit in a care home feeling sorry for themselves and unhappy whilst being quite inactive. But if they are in an atmosphere where people like them are living 'normal lives' like they used to then they can enjoy their time as much as possible, instead of living isolated in a care home. So overall I think that this could prove to be a good alternative to care homes in the long run and is beneficial to both the patients and the patients families (who see that their family member in the village is more comfortable than in a care home).

"Some patients from wealthy backgrounds are made to believe their carers are servants, while others of working-class origin believe their carers are extended family members. The overall effect has been to convince the residents that they are not really patients but neighbours" (http://tinyurl.com/6lnbz2h). This illustrates the fact that the idea has been a success because of the belief that the patients have in thinking that the scenario is real and suggests that it may be a good model for the future.

3 comments:

  1. This sounds so interesting! I wouldn't mind working at a place like that one day..
    Don't you want to do a entry on genetic diseases like down's syndrome or something? That would be interesting as well :) Keep it up!

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  2. Okay, thanks for the comment rebekka! I will try and do one on a genetic disease.

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  3. Hi. You should check out the Russetts dementia care home in North Somerset. http://www.stmonicatrust.org.uk/what-we-do/dementia-care Not quite a whole village but run along the same sort of lines. It's based on a model from Australia. 12 (or thereabouts) people live in each of 5 houses each with two lounges and a kitchen but share a communal garden and "club" room. There are obviously "moments" but mostly the residents are calm and can get involved in day to day activities as much or as little as they like. My father-in-law thinks he is staying in a (rather nice) hotel, others think it is their own home and get on with the cleaning, cooking and gardening.

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