The UK's Telegraph reports that a nursing home in Dusseldorf, Germany, has come up with an innovative idea to keep wandering Alzheimer patients from getting lost. They have put a fake bus stop outside their front door.
Although Alzheimer sufferers have very poor short term memories, many can still retain some long term memories - such as what a bus stop looks like, and what its function (ie to attract a bus to take them home) is. Apparently, many of the patients who wander out of the nursing home spot the bus stop and wait for the non-existent bus to arrive, rather than walking away and getting lost.
Now, when one of their patients go missing, instead of calling the police, staff check the bus stop. The director of the home poignantly reveals that more often then not, their escapee charges find it hard to recall why they were waiting for the bus in the first place, and can be tempted back inside by the promise of a coffee.
Collaborative writing
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The husband and I are trying to 'do' a book together. I say 'do' rather
than write as I am doing all of the writing - but he's got a really
important role ...
2 comments:
reminds me of visiting my uncle years ago in a Sydney nursing home. A poor old dear had wandered outside and was walking up and down on the spot as she had come to the fence and could go no further. She was still there an hour later when we were leaving so we turned her around and she happily walked back into the home...
What a sad story... my grandfather became a bit like that too - he'd eat a meal and then he'd walk out of the dining room via one door, walk in via another and say, "when's dinner?"
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