# The Dutch Village Where Everyone Has Dementia



## SeaBreeze (Nov 21, 2014)

Here's a story about a Dutch village, where everyone has dementia...http://www.theatlantic.com/health/a...veryone-has-dementia/382195/?single_page=true




> In traditional nursing homes, with their clinical appearance, the situation is openly communicated to residents—_you’re sick_, _you can’t take care of yourself_,_you’re forgetting things again_. But in Hogewey, the residents live in a place that looks and feels like home, even though it’s not; what others know to be a façade, they see as reality, which may help them to feel normal even in the midst of their disease.
> 
> Psychologist Donald Spence defines the concept of “narrative reality” as the ways in which stories and places help link the “true” world to one that a person is better able to understand, using storytelling as a vehicle to understand the truth—_you’re in a place that’s holistically normal_, _you’re not lost_, etc.How much of dementia is a result of disease, and how much is a result of how we treat it?
> 
> ...


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## Ameriscot (Nov 22, 2014)

How wonderful for the patients lucky enough to live there instead of a cold nursing home.


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## Kitties (Nov 24, 2014)

This would really be beneficial to some of the residents I have in the nursing home I work in. Some of them want to go to a restaurant at 10PM. Or they wander the halls. A few ambulatory. Most in wheelchairs. It would be nice if there were places they could go and just wander safely.

One nursing home I worked at closed their nice secured (locked) unit to make the rooms into medicare rooms for more profit. Weather permitting the door to the enclosed yard was always open and people could go in and out as they wanted.


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## SeaBreeze (Nov 24, 2014)

I'd much rather be there than a nursing home for sure!


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## QuickSilver (Nov 25, 2014)

The thing about dementia is you don't really KNOW where you are.  You are wherever your mind tells you that you are.  I have worked with dementia patients.. It's sad to watch, but in reality, these people are unaware of reality.  Beatrice wonders the deck of a ship looking for her husband.   Edward is at his job.   John is at a train station waiting for the 6:15.   Ethyl is taking care of her babies and folding their diapers over and over.   Redirecting them to reality is futile or if at all possible.. it's brief.  The best is to keep them safe and away from predators out on the streets, or to keep them from hurting themselves.  It's a sad disease.


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## SeaBreeze (Feb 10, 2015)

More about this village.  http://www.boredpanda.com/dementia-village-for-elderly-de-hogeweyk/


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## LogicsHere (Feb 11, 2015)

The other problem is the "COST" of care.  There are not many I am sure who can afford $5000 to $10,000 a month which is what it would cost to place my mother in a situation like this. I would love to have my mother in a place like this where I could go visit rather than have to look after her as I'm doing now, but meager savings just don't permit it.  And then I've read somewhere that many of these facilities want 2 years of costs in advance?  Bull dinky.

All these assisted living facilities here in the U.S. think that people are made of money and that they should be the ones to have it all and only the wealthy know how to protect assets so that someone else pays the cost and not them.  If your family is like mine, no house, little savings etc. you're stuck up a creek without a paddle.

While I may not be happy with my current situation, I will not pay $10,000 a month for my  mother's care (her money would be gone in less than a year) . .. that is ridiculous, especially not for someone who is mobile and still has a good portion of her wits about her.  I will keep her off the taxpayer's dole for as long as I can and if at any point she does become immobile or need medical care that she can only receive in a NH, then so be it.

How I handle my own care remains to be seen.


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## NancyNGA (Feb 11, 2015)

From what I've witnessed in the last 2 months, and from the information given...  In order for this living arrangement to work, the level of dementia would have to be in such early stages, that these folks are not even near ready for a nursing home to begin with, maybe not even ready for assisted living.  This disease is bad.


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## Debby (Feb 13, 2015)

But maybe there are some inexpensive things, cosmetic ideas that could be adopted that would make the ones that we could afford for aging parents or for ourselves, that would still make them feel a little less clinical.  Like instead of institutional pale yellow with rose carpet, they could be a little more imaginative, warmer, richer colours.  Better artwork...pick furniture that is cleanable and attractive....  must be some things wouldn't you think?


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## WindnSea (Feb 21, 2015)

I am surprised more of these type of care areas are not being set up.  It seems that the feeling of having a close community to live in with assistance all around is a smart way to help an aging population.  If I were to live in one I would want everything to remind me of the good old day, maybe they can set up time zone specific towns and keep people suffering from dementia reliving their glory days.  My family has been touched by Alzheimer's and dementia recently and its good to read something positive in that area happening.  Thank you for the share SeaBreeze!


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