The Hogeweyk® Dementia Village

Is Hogeweyk The Future of Dementia Care?

Introduction

This article is Best Alzheimer’s Products’ most successful, most viewed, and most shared of all time. In the months following its publication (August, 2013) it was viewed by over 500,000 visitors from around the world. The story was originally brought to our attention by a CNN report. You can see that telecast below in this post.

It is Dr. Sanjay Gupta and the CNN telecast that dubbed the care community in the Netherlands “Dementia Village”, but that is a name that the founders are not particularly fond of, so we will limit our use of the moniker. In fact, with the help of Jannette Spiering, senior managing advisor & founder The Hogeweyk®, our original article has undergone a major revision.

Ms Spiering contacted us recently asking if we would be willing to make some modifications and corrections. This from the founder! Of course we are willing to make some changes. Accuracy is a primary goal of the Best Alzheimer’s blog.

The Hogeweyk®, located in the Netherlands, as of this writing, is the only care facility of it’s kind in the world and is home to 188 people living with severe dementia to whom they provide highly skilled nursing home care.  The care concept was already developed in 1993 by the existing management team after exploring the question: How do you want to live if you are diagnosed with dementia? The answer was that the traditional nursing homes were not what they preferred. ‘Dementia Village’* is a place where residents live a normal life, where they have the freedom to be outside, socialize with other residents or just enjoy what’s going on in the neighborhood.

The Hogeweyk has 27 homes where 7 residents  live together, supported by care staff. The entrance to the community is guarded by a receptionist during daytime. Residents can leave the the community but must be accompanied by family or staff or a volunteer.

Residents are free to roam around, visit the supermarket or the restaurant, get their hair done or be active in one of the 25 clubs available at The Hogeweyk.  As well as the psychological benefits this provides, staying active also improves general physical health.  The residents here take fewer medications, eat better and seem to live longer.  And although joy is a hard thing to measure, the staff at the Hogeweyk think the residents are more content on a day to day to basis because they experience a more meaningful life then those living in traditional nursing homes.

Is The Hogeweyk  Dementia Village the future of Dementia Care?

Germany and Switzerland have been studying the Hogeweyk and might be next to create their own dementia care villages.  there are followers of the concept all around the world : Italy, New-Zealand, Australia, Sweden. Can something like this work in the United States? Would you prefer to send your loved ones to a Dementia Village?

That last paragraph was written in 2013 when this article was originally published. Things have change since then. The founders of the original “Dementia Village” have since created an organization to extend their vision of compassionate care for people with dementia. Be Advice “supports and advises healthcare organizations, governments, architects, project developers and entrepreneurs around the world to improve the quality of life of people with dementia.”

It’s working. People in other countries and continents are creating their own “places” where people with Alzheimer’s disease and other cognitive disorders can live their lives “as normally as possible.” It’s happening in Germany and Italy and Norway. It’s happening in Australia and New Zealand. And it is starting to happen in the United States. Communities based on the model developed at Hogeweyk are popping up all over the world.

Dementia Village Associates is another organization that grew out of the success of the original community in the Netherlands. DVA helped with the original concept and did the architectural design:

If you are serious about creating a de-institutionalized, person centered care community we highly recommend that you contact both Be and DVA. They exist to help others create their dreams.

So the answer to the question above is “Yes”; something like this can work in the United States. As you can see, the ideas that built The Hogeweyk are taking hold around the world. With guidance and encouragement from Be Advice, Center for Hospice Care, in South Bend, Indiana, operates “a day centre for people living with dementia and their caregivers”. Milton Adult Day Services which opened recently continues to receive a positive reception from the care community and the press.

Sadly, when we moved our blog to our new website back in 2015, we lost our social sharing stats, but this blog post went viral and was shared more than 500,000 times over the course of a few months.  Obviously this is a subject people care deeply about and we plan to write more posts like this one.  If you know of any inspiring places or stories we should share please let us know!

Dementia Village on CNN with Dr. Sanjay Gupta

See the CNN report that broke the story about this incredible community in the United States. Sanjay Gupta visited the village to learn how dementia care should be done!

 Dr. Sanjay Gupta covered this story on CNN in 2013. In fact, it was this broadcast that “invented” the term Dementia Village. The name stuck, though it is not a term the founders are particularly fond of.  Be that as it may, you can watch that  CNN exclusive video of Hogeweyk’s Dementia Village above.  Read the 5 things that Dr. Gupta learned about dementia care as a result of his visit.

CONCLUSION

“Is it time to rethink how we care for dementia patients?”

That is the title of a recent (January 19, 2023) radio show hosted by WBUR in Boston. The program guests included Iris Van Slooten, advisor at Be Advice. You can hear that broadcast by clicking below.

Some time ago we (all of us at Best Alzheimer’s Products) were throwing around the idea of putting a care community like this into abandoned shopping malls; there are a lot of them around the country. So, we found it interesting that among the guests of this radio program was Emily Roberts, an associate professor of interior design at Oklahoma State University. She is looking into doing just that.