“The Comforting Fictions of Dementia Care,” by Larissa MacFarquhar, The New Yorker

“The large central room of the memory-care unit was designed to look like an old-fashioned American town square. There was a small fountain, surrounded by plants and a low stone wall; there were a couple of lampposts, and benches, tables, and chairs set about. The carpet was mottled with darker and lighter shades of green, to resemble grass growing and bending in different directions. Along the walls were the façades of what looked like clapboard houses, with wooden shutters and shingled pitched roofs and porches that extended into the room. Two long hallways, which led off from opposite sides of the central room, looked like streets in the same town, with more clapboard façades and porches on either side. These façades were not altogether fake: each front door opened onto a suite of small rooms—living room, bedroom, bathroom—that was a resident’s home.”

LTC Comment (from Stephen A. Moses, President, Center for Long-Term Care Reform):

Long, depressing article about why and how caregivers deceive dementia patients to calm them and reduce the use of physical restraints. Thanks to Stephen D. Forman of Center-corporate-member LTC Associates for tipping us to this story in his LTCA Weekly Reader.

#goldencareagent
#dementia