Today, some 500,000 people in the US are diagnosed with dementia each year. Black Americans are twice as likely to develop dementia as White Americans. Only a small percentage of people with dementia get help with cooking, dressing, bathing and other essential needs. A new care model is showing promise: The “dementia village,” reports Michael Brice-Saddler for The Washington Post.
Projections are that in 35 years, 1 million people in the US a year will be diagnosed with dementia. In Washington DC, more than one in seven older adults have dementia, more than in other parts of the country. In DC, four in ten older adults are living alone, in isolation, exacerbating their risk of dementia.
The “dementia village” model, based on the Hogeweyk in the Netherlands, focuses on social inclusion and treating people with dementia as people who want to enjoy life, not as patients. Twenty-seven homes make up the community. Six or seven people live together in a house and do household activities together. Caregivers and social workers support the residents. The Dutch government pays for the village.
Canada and Australia have adopted versions of the model. The goal is to get people with dementia out of institutions and into their own communities where they can be with other people; to give people with dementia good housing and food and ensure the good management of their health.
The dementia village can be costly. But, it can also be more affordable than caring for people living alone today. Moreover, if it keeps people out of the hospital, it can save money.
Moreover, caring for people with dementia can be challenging physically, emotionally and financially. The dementia village can ease the toll on volunteer caregivers. At the same time, we need programs that control heart disease, diet and exercise to slow the development of dementia.
Don’t assume you have dementia if you’re struggling to remember names or words. Forgetfulness is common as we age. It’s forgetting how to do something you’ve always done that might merit a trip to your doctor’s office.
Here’s more from Just Care:
- Improve your health with a buddy
- Online social networks may extend your life
- Home-delivered meals, more than good nutrition
- More than any other generation, baby boomers aging alone and lonely
- Why social health is as important as physical and mental health
