Dementia Village - fake village is actually a dementia care center

Calliegirl

Calliegirl

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I love this, what an amazing idea. I hope they start building these all over.

...'Dementia Village' - as it has become known -- is a place where residents can live a seemingly normal life, but in reality are being watched all the time. Caretakers staff the restaurant, grocery store, hair salon and theater -- although the residents don't always realize they are carers -- and are also watching in the residents' living quarters.

Residents are allowed to roam freely around the courtyard-like grounds with its landscaped trees, fountains and benches -- but they can't leave the premises...
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http://www.cnn.com/2013/07/11/world/europe/wus-holland-dementia-village/

Centuries after Shakespeare wrote about King Lear's symptoms, there's still no perfect way to care for sufferers of dementia and Alzheimer's. In the Netherlands, however, a radical idea is being tested: Self-contained "villages" where people with dementia shop, cook, and live together—safely....
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http://gizmodo.com/inside-an-amazing-village-designed-just-for-people-with-1526062373
 
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Calliegirl said:
I love this, what an amazing idea. I hope they start building these all over.
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This is amazing! But to be honest.. In the UK at least I cannot see this being replicated .
My own experience with both my auntie and my own father is that 'containment " of dementia patients at risk to themselves is carried out as cheaply and covertly as possible.

The choice of options for care of people with dementia is

Either.. Trying to cope at home with little or no support or education about the condition.
A home Carers system that provides inexperienced underpaid overworked staff too bored or exhausted to provide anything but basic Tasks without warmth or empathy.

A nightmare situation which impacts the whole family and is scary and dangerous. Lots of families weather it though rather than face the alternative. I did for two years knowing how awful the alternative is from my job at AgeUk.

Lines iof residents , some strapped in their chairs for their own safety , doped and sleepy from medication to control their symptoms is every daughter or sons glimpse of hell.

A vision that you never forget and one that riddles you with guilt even if there are no choices.

Containment does not mean imprisonment .

But in government funding terms changes to the system come very far down the list. Meanwhile private companies build "pretty" homes with luxurious trappings to disguise the reality of the same imprisonment for which relatives sell their souls and their houses to pay not knowing the truth.
 
I've actually said I wish we could do a reality show in a nursing home. But they would never get everyone to sign off on release and there would be the huge legalities since so many people don't have capacity anymore.

We no longer have restraints of any residents (patients) in long term care, not here in California anyway. Many don't even have side rails on the beds anymore. They may have alarms on their bed or chair that alarm when they get up causing staff to chase those alarms like crazy for certain people.

I know what your saying Ann Chovie. I'm sorry about your experiences with your own family.
 
Kitties said:
We no longer have restraints of any residents (patients) in long term care, not here in California anyway. Many don't even have side rails on the beds anymore. They may have alarms on their bed or chair that alarm when they get up causing staff to chase those alarms like crazy for certain people.
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I think we still have them here in the UK Kitties but I am not sure as it is three years since my dad died and also the same amount of time since I worked in any capacity within nursing homes.

I know of several instances where patients with dementia have attempted to climb over the side rails and injured themselves so any alternative to that would be preferable.

Here we have what is called a 'Community Alarm Service' for vunerable and elderly who live at home alone and they issue lots of ingenious alarms such as you describe. the one I recall is the alarm that goes off if the steam from their cooking reaches a certain point which indicates that they are burning food and at risk of a fire.
 
Where I work I see the side rails disappearing (they are actually 1/2 or 1/4 rails. full bed rails have been gone for years) and they have these narrow tall upside down "U" shaped devises for "bed mobility" Some mattress also go up on the sides to prevent people from rolling out but active people can go right over them. Most of the beds also lower close to the floor so if someone does fall there is less distance. And we have fall mats next to the bed the staff is always tripping on. Each fall is a ton of paper work and always a worry about injury.
 
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