Alzheimer's Month Special: A Space of Our Own

Heard of the Netherlands's Hogeweyk dementia village? India may soon have something similar in a few year's time.

The Alzheimer’s and Related Disorders Society of India (ARDSI) in Kolkata is planning to start a dementia village near Joka in Kolkata to provide a comfortable home to individuals living with dementia. This concept is popular in Europe and was first introduced in the Netherlands in 2009. You may have heard of the care facility called Hogeweyk. It was a concept developed in 1993 after exploring how individuals would like to live if they were diagnosed with dementia. Traditional nursing homes were not the preferred choice. Instead, a "dementia village" or a place where residents could live a normal life, have the freedom to be outside, socialize with other residents, and enjoy what’s going on in the neighbourhood was the chosen option.

Aged care is a crucial issue worldwide, and Hogeweyk is one of the most innovative care facilities in the world. The residents all have severe dementia and require 24-hour care. But that doesn't mean they are confined to their homes. Hogeweyk is a self-contained and safe environment that provides residents with a sense of normalcy through its restaurants, cafés, shops, gardens, and outdoor spaces.

With twice as many care staff as residents, the carers can provide individualized care, enabling residents to lead a life as close to normal as possible. The carers dress casually and the residents are under constant surveillance to ensure their safety. Residents can participate in daily activities, assist with cooking and cleaning, shop at the grocery store, visit the salon, or dine out at restaurants in the village. 

“You don’t want to be locked in for the rest of your life, you don’t want to live the rhythm of the organization. You want to make your own choices. You still want to go on living, but you need support,” Jannette Spiering, a founder of the Hogeweyk was quoted in a recent report in the New York Times.

Why is this relevant?

Because India, with its increasing dementia problem may need such spaces. A recent study gauged that dementia prevalence in India is 7.4% among adults over the age of 60. About 8.8 million Indians are currently living with dementia. ARDSI, Kolkata chapter intends to start a similar village, though much smaller in size. “The Hogeweyk is huge, the size of ten football fields," Nilanjana Maulik, secretary of the Kolkata chapter of ARDSI said. "Here we are starting small. We have to plan the space very carefully so that people living with dementia can roam about without getting lost. The space will have everything that they would need to lead a normal life. They should be able to visit a temple or a grocery store, have a haircut, go to a bank, watch a movie, go for a walk, and interact in a community. All this, of course, will be make-belief with caregivers with suitable attires manning these facilities to give them a sense of familiarity and freedom.” 

Maulik is a firm believer in the concept of well-trained staff at dementia facilities and feels there should be a constant upgrading of their training or new care strategies. "It's important to recruit a diverse background of caregivers to ensure there is diversity of languages as well. A person with dementia from Kolkata may have a language issue in a care facility in the southern part of the country but to have staff from other parts of the country can solve that problem."

ARDSI's Hogeweyk-style project will begin soon with fundraising starting this September 2023. Architects who are sensitized to Dementia will be involved in designing. To make it truly inclusive, Maulik says the plan is to make the village accessible to all persons living with dementia, irrespective of their socio-economic status. “Those who can afford it can have a room to themselves, those who can’t, can share living spaces. Nobody will be turned away for lack of money.” 

We hope the concept comes true and there are safe yet non-restrictive spaces for persons with dementia across the country soon. 

Cover image: The Hogeweyk; Source: Twitter 

Are you a caregiver to a loved one with dementia? What do you think of a concept like Hogeweyk? Would you try out a similar facility in India if it develops?