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Dutch 'dementia village,' a whole neighborhood designed for memory loss, is a game-changer

The Hogeweyk provides a sense of "normalcy" for people living with dementia.

Photo credit: Canva

People with dementia can roam freely in a dementia village.

There are a lot of extremely challenging things about getting older, but one stands about the rest. Living with dementia is not easy, nor is living with someone living with dementia. No matter how much caregivers may want to keep a loved one with dementia in their home, it's not always feasible. But moving them into a traditional care facility isn't always ideal, either.

That's where a "dementia village" comes in as an alternative. Instead of trying to fit a person with dementia into a living situation that either isn't designed for them or is overly focused on their limitations, a dementia village is an environment designed specifically to help people with severe dementia feel safe and free and live as normal a life as possible.

dementia, dementia care, alzheimer's disease, dementia village, memory care People with dementia tend to remember distant memories and forget recent ones.Photo credit: Canva

The Hogeweyk was the world's first dementia village, founded in 2009. Since then, the idea has been replicated in dozens of locations all over the world. The concept is quite simple: A full, self-contained neighborhood where people with dementia can walk around freely without fear of getting lost, where everyone from shopkeepers to restaurant servers to salon workers are trained in dementia care, and where people who are losing their memory to dementia diseases are treated as people who still have aspirations.

Eloy van Hal, one of the founders of the Hogeweyk, explained to Vox how the guiding principle of the village is "normalcy." Traditional nursing homes keep all residents under one roof, and they are subject to do whatever program the institution provides for them. In the Hogeweyk, people live in small groups of six or seven in apartments with furnishings like they'd have at home. Distinct landmarks in the public space help residents know where they are, and putting a theater, grocery store, barber shop, etc. in separate buildings encourage movement through the neighborhood.

"It's about choice, choice, choice, where you want to be during the whole day and with whom," said van Hal. The idea is to balance safe design with controlled risk, allowing for as much of a normal life as possible.

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The one downside to the village concept, of course, is cost. Without adequate funding assistance from governments, living in a dementia village can be prohibitively expensive.

Does it really make a difference for residents, though? Has it been proven that outcomes are better than traditional care models? With dozens of villages now being used around the world, research is ongoing but the data from the Hogeweyk is promising. People in the comments of Vox's by Design video shared how such facilities have been life-changing for their loved ones and how traditional care doesn't always meet the needs of people with dementia.

"My grandmother had dementia and when her caretaker who was my grandfather (her husband) passed unexpectedly we had to scramble to get her into a memory care facility in the US. The first place she was in temporarily was so sad, I could see her spirit drain but after about a year we were able to get her into a "village" and the quality of life difference is nothing short of ASTOUNDING! She could function in a way that was familiar and comfortable to her and not be in a foreign hospital setting. The abrupt change from a home where they are familiar, to a clinical setting must be very disorienting and upsetting to these people. That side of my family had mental health issues and memory loss starts early, so I know it will happen to me to some extent and I only hope I can have people take care of me as well as in this Hogeweyk."

"I've worked in a nursing home through high school and college. While I can't say it was the worst place for dementia patients, it certainly did not work well for all of them. One patient once tried to wedge herself through the door begging to go outside with me and I even had patients confide in me that they hated being institutionalized, they missed being able to live a normal life, being part of a real community, and being able to come and go as they pleased. This concept is probably the closest thing possible to a normal life a dementia patient could ever have."

dementia, dementia care, alzheimer's disease, dementia village, memory care All the workers in a dementia village are trained in memory care.Photo credit: Canva

"A relative of mine used to get aggressive, violent and angry when she would encounter a locked door in the institution she was in. She couldn't understand why there would be a locked room in what she understood to be 'her home', this would take a lot of calming down and management, only for her to discover another locked door, and kick off again. I love these village based models as they allow autonomy for residents, and have an individual experience. Just because someone has a brain disease doesn't mean they aren't entitled to the very best care. I hope the govt spends far more on these establishments in the future."

"As he said at the end, people with dementia are still people—even if there is proven to be no benefits to this model over a care home, I would much prefer to have dignity in my final days than live in a clinical trap. Love all the incredible ideas the Netherlands come up with."

Dementia care is something Americans are going to have to look at closely. According to The Alzheimer's Association, the number of people living with Alzheimer's is set to nearly double from seven million to 13 million by the year 2050. As more of our elders require full-time care, the more we'll have to consider prioritizing putting resources into things like dementia villages.

Everyone deserves safety and a good quality of life. The Hogeweyk is a great example of what it looks like to view people with dementia as people first and to care for them accordingly.

This article originally appeared in April. It has been updated.

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The restaurant in Japan where getting your order wrong is totally expected and accepted

It's a beautiful example of social inclusion for people with dementia.

Photo by charlesdeluvio on Unsplash

At The Restaurant for Mistaken Orders, orders come as placed only 67% of the time.

Imagine you order salmon and green beans at a restaurant and the server brings you steak and potatoes. You'd say something, right? Tell them they got your order wrong? Expect them to fix the mix-up?

Not if you were dining at The Restaurant of Mistaken Orders in Tokyo, Japan, where part of the dining experience is not knowing whether you're going to get what you order. You have about a 1 in 3 chance that you won't, but those odds are in place for the best reason.

The Restaurant of Mistaken Orders employes people with dementia as servers, fully knowing that sometimes they're going to get customers' orders wrong. Customers who eat there know this fact as well. It's all just part of the adventure of dining at a restaurant designed to increase kindness and reduce isolation for people with cognitive impairments.

The pop-up restaurant is a collaboration between creator Shiro Oguni and a group home for people with dementia.

“Like everybody else, my awareness of dementia at first tended towards negative images of people who were ‘radically forgetful’ and ‘aimlessly wandering about,'" Oguni shared with Japan's government website. "But actually, they can cook, clean, do laundry, go shopping and do other ‘normal’ things for themselves."

Oguni was worried at first that people might criticize the concept of the restaurant, as if people with dementia were being treated as a carnival show or being made a laughingstock. But he says that when people see the smiles on the faces of the servers and how much joy and confidence they gain from having a purpose and being viewed as still capable, they are moved.

“The restaurant is not about whether orders are executed incorrectly or not,” noted Oguni. “The important thing is the interaction with people who have dementia.” It's a win-win. The people with dementia aren't as isolated, and 99% of the people who visit The Restaurant of Mistaken Orders leaves feeling happy.

"Dementia is not what a person is, but just part of who they are," said Oguni. "People are people. The change will not come from them, it must come from society. By cultivating tolerance, almost anything can be solved."

People love the idea of creating a space where people with dementia can work have other people to interact with.

"Kindness, inclusion, and compassion are the hallmarks of making someone feel like a human being despite adversity in their circumstances," shared one commenter on Instagram. "These people are sweet human beings who deserve not to be given up on by society."

"Instead of sticking them in a home and avoiding them, they are including them and giving them the ability to live, a sense of purpose, a reason to smile. I think it's a beautiful concept," wrote another.

"The beauty of a community choosing to meet people where they are instead of forcing them into a mold they no longer fit. Change the mold, change the result. Love this idea," shared another.

Many people pointed to the collectivist mindset in Japan, where societal well-being is more important than individual ambition, as something to aspire to. But even in Japan, The Restaurant of Mistaken Orders is a novel experiment that has proven to be a success.

"The image of ‘Cool Japan’ is recently gathering much enthusiasm, but I think ‘Warm Japan’ is just as important," said Oguni. "I want to promote a Japan that cultivates a warm, comfortable environment, so people will return home with smiles and a glow in their hearts.”

A beautiful goal for any nation to have. Learn more about The Restaurant for Mistaken Orders here.

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Talk about timing! Toddler chasing bubbles finds missing elderly woman with Alzheimer's

'Angels come in all shapes and sizes.'

Courtesy of Brittany More

Toddler chasing bubbles finds missing woman.

Bubbles are the best thing in the world if you're a toddler. Giggling behind bubbles that you just can't seem to catch can provide hours of fun. But sometimes, imaginary adventures with bubbles can lead to real discoveries, and that's exactly what happened to a Georgia toddler named Ethan Moore. The 1 1/2-year-old was chasing after bubbles in his yard when he became an unexpected hero. His bubble chasing led him to a missing woman that local rescue teams had been looking for.

Ethan chased his bubbles to the fence line and something caught his attention on the other side. His puzzled look made his mother, Brittany Moore, curious and that's when Ethan said "feet" in his tiny toddler voice. Sure enough, the little guy saw feet belonging to Nina Lipscomb, 82. According to Fox 5 Atlanta, Lipscomb has early stage Alzheimer's disease and was reported missing August 9 by her family members after they discovered she had wandered away from her niece's home in Senoia, Georgia.

Brittany and Ethan Moore.

Courtesy of Brittany Moore

Local authorities searched for several days using everything they had at their disposal, including helicopters with thermal cameras. But searches continued to come up empty. Thomas Lipscomb, the missing woman's son, told Fox 5 that his mother makes an annual trip to Georgia to spend time with her family, and when he heard that she was missing he jumped in his car and drove from Virginia to help find her.

After several days of someone being missing it would be natural to think something terrible happened to them, especially when you know they're impaired. Thankfully for the Lipscombs their mother was found safe by a toddler and his mother. Moore told CBS46 News that she did not see the missing woman at first due to the overgrown trees, and added, “If you get on his level and look through, you can see some of the broken sticks and that’s where she was laying."

When authorities arrived, they realized the woman in the woods was Nina Lipscomb and that although she was disoriented, thankfully she was alive, according to CBS46 News. After she was released from the hospital, Nina was able to meet her tiny hero. The family told the local news station that they would always be connected. Moore said, "I truly think this was something outside of what any human could do. It took a child who was being worked by God. We will always teach him what he did, how he played an impact in it.”

Who knew playing with bubbles could lead to such an amazing outcome. Ethan certainly has quite a story for his short time here on earth. Much to everyone's delight, the elderly Lipscomb is doing well and is safely home. Her daughter Karen Lipscomb shared about the event on social media saying, "Angels come in all shapes and sizes."

Ethan Moore and one of the firefighters on the scene.

Courtesy of Brittany Moore

Moore celebrated her son finding Lipscomb in a social media post writing, "We knew Ethan was something special. We knew he was smart. But damn my boy found her!" He sure did and it's a story that will be told for years to come.

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Doctor shares 'dementia whiteboard' daughter wrote for mother

Philip Grimmer/Twitter

Anyone who's had a relative or friend with dementia will know just how destructive the group of diseases is. The condition can impair memory, communication, focus, reasoning, and visual perception, transforming a sufferer into what can seem like an entirely different person in a matter of seconds.

Dr. Philip Grimmer, from Wiltshire in the United Kingdom, was visiting one of his patients with the disease when he saw the words of reassurance written on a whiteboard by a daughter to her mother that he decided to share on Twitter.

"Words of reassurance left for an elderly lady with dementia by her daughter," Dr. Grimmer explains. "A simple white board left in her sight line in her sitting room. Helped to reduce constant anxious phone calls."

The white board reads:


Your meals are paid for

You're okay

Everyone's fine

You are not moving

No-one else is moving

Keep drinking,

it will help your memory

You don't owe anyone any money

You haven't upset anyone."

Dr. Grimmer's tweet attracted over 40,000 likes and 7,000 retweets. Dr. Grimmer explained to the BBC that he'd initially posted the tweet to share it with his colleagues. "I'd not seen anything like it before in thousands of house visits. It's caring, reassuring and sensible - it's just such a simple idea," he added.

Other social media users took the opportunity to share how they help those suffering from the disease.



Dr. Grimmer's image was also posted on Reddit, where it received more than 112,000 upvotes.

Reddit user Kryptosis suggested that "you can use the bathroom whenever you like" be added as a former relative with dementia believed they couldn't use the bathroom.

Hailley, a nurse from Canada, added:

"I had one resident where I worked who would be in tears because he was worried about his children and having to pay for his meals."

"It was sometimes tough to reassure him. We had to call his children to talk to him a few times. It was hard to see him so upset."

She expanded on her comment for the BBC:

"I have seen people talk down to those with dementia, which is just not right. They are still adults who know when they are being treated differently.

"People just do not know how to interact with them. It takes patience and you may not be able to have a conversation with them in the same way you would with someone without dementia.

"The whiteboard addresses what gets asked the most [by those] in long-term care."

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