Dementia villages are changing the future of elderly care

Specially designed to look like the towns where residents are from, dementia villages are giving elderly people the freedom to live normally within a close community — even as their recent memory begins to fade.

Growing old is a fact of life whether we like it or not.

While beauty companies love to convince us that the scariest things about ageing are the physical manifestations of it — wrinkles, grey hairs, sunspots, and sagging skin — the mental effects are far more life-changing.

Many of us will have witnessed our grandparents or other loved ones move into permanent care homes after living with progressing dementia. These environments are often sterile, crowded, and stuffy. It’s a difficult step to make for any family.

Thanks to an idea first put forward by Dutch designers, life for dementia patients no longer has to be so institutional. Traditional care homes have been reimagined into entire villages that provide residents with familiarity and safety while affording them a sense of freedom.