A radical idea is being tested in the Netherlands: self-contained "villages" where people with dementia shop, cook, and live together—safely. De Hogewey (a.k.a. Dementia Village) is a dementia-focused living center, where the relationship between patients and their care is serving as a model for the rest of the world.
From the outside, Hogewey seems like a fortress of solid buildings and apartments, closed to the outside world with gates and security fences. But, inside, it is its own self-contained world with restaurants, cafes, a supermarket, gardens, a pedestrian boulevard, and more.
The idea, explains Hogewey’s creators, is to design a world that maintains as much a resemblance to normal life as possible—without endangering the patients.
Book Recommendation—Paws & Effect: The Healing Power of Dogs
In Paws and Effect, Sharon Sakson seamlessly weaves scientific research with incredibly moving stories of beloved pets who have supported their owners through periods of ill health and other crises. Some of the stories are simply miraculous:
*Little Ben—a Chihuahua who can sense impending epileptic seizures;
*Abdul (a Golden Retriever/Lab mix), the world’s first service dog to help his owner by retrieving keys, phones, and medicines from counter tops; water from the refrigerator; and even credit cards from his wallet at the grocery store; and
*A Dalmatian named Trudii, whose obsessive behavior prompts her owner to seek a medical examination that revealed melanoma.
Senior of the Month: Superwoman— Shirley Moore, 71
Consider a 71-year-old who’s partially blind, and factor in that she uses her cane to get around by herself every day. Still, she lifts weights, fondly recalls her days of running marathons and riding tandem bikes, and is fiercely independent.
By anyone’s standards, Shirley Moore is a super senior. At Asbury Methodist Village in Gaithersburg, Maryland, a continuing care retirement community where she’s lived for the past three years, she’s Superwoman. Literally—it’s a title she won at the gym.
In an interview with U.S. News during May’s Older Americans Month, Moore shared what’s kept her healthy for so long, as well as her best advice to other seniors. Her responses have been edited.
