Anyone who has cared for a family member with dementia knows how terrifying it can be, and how depressing nursing home care can be. Since the first dementia village, De Hogeweyk in the Netherlands, opened in 2009, the concept of designing a safe place to live that seems more like normal life than like a hospital has spread to other parts of Europe. Here we take a deep dive into how these villages are designed and operated. The video mentions that dementia villages are expensive, costing around $70K to $90K a year per resident. That may be expensive to a European, but it’s no more expensive than the standard nursing home in America, and it feels more like a retirement community. The real question is, does this system work? Raw data is hard to come by, but then how can you measure comfort and happiness, and what is it worth? -via Digg
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Source: neatorama