Since the beginning of the 90s, the Dutch have been developing very unique treatments to treat people with dementia by recreating environments they used to frequent.
To control and slow the progression of dementias, the Netherlands have implemented surprising methods that seem to be more effective than medication. They consist in recreating an environment familiar to the patient, via video projections or arrangements of hospital spaces. Willy Briggen, 89 years old, suffering from advanced dementia, manages for example to control the attacks of violence specific to the disease by watching images projected on the ceiling of his room from his bed. The staff even specifies that the sight of ducks is particularly beneficial to them.
“Willy Briggen, who is in an advanced stage of dementia, lives in a home in Eindhoven, the Netherlands. Images of nature are projected on the ceiling of her room to calm her. Credit Ilvy Njiokiktjien for The New York Times ” pic.twitter.com/URszdiaDfR
– Tony Ramirez (@hildyjohns) 23 Aug 2018
Willy Briggen, who is in an advanced stage of dementia, lives in a home in the Netherlands. Images of nature are projected on her ceiling to calm her.
Take a look at more unusual strategies for fighting dementia: https://t.co/mxCgM0p2p5
Photo: Ilvy Njiokiktjien pic.twitter.com/bc6wtomDPI
– Christine Spadafora (@christinespad) Aug 24, 2018
Dementia is a general term grouping together a large number of diseases (Creutzfeldt-Jakob, Parkinson’s, Alzheimer’s…). Common features of all 55 dementia subtypes are loss of intellectual ability, deterioration of memory, decline in cognitive function, language impairment, and disturbance in executive function.
“The more stress is reduced, the better”, explains in the New York Times Dr Erik Scherder, neuropsychologist at Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, and one of the country’s best-known dementia specialists. “If you can reduce stress and discomfort, it has a direct physiological effect.” Up to 270,000 Dutch people – or around 8.4% of the 3.2 million inhabitants over the age of 64 – suffer from dementia. The government expects that number to double within 25 years.
A completely reconstructed beach in the Houttuinen care center
81-year-old Truus Ooms and his 83-year-old friend Annie Arendsen regularly make their old bus trips, simulated on three simultaneous screens, which correspond to the vehicle’s fictitious windows. A driver is seated in front of her, behind the wheel. On the videos, they can see landscapes and their old house scrolling. The idea is also to get patients moving as much as possible, where traditional care structures confine them to their beds or armchairs. It also allows patients to socialize. We can thus see them, delighted, enjoying a completely reconstructed beach in the Houttuinen care center in Haarlem. There is real sand on the floor, lamps that produce heat, wind and the sound of waves scattered across the room. It is even possible to enjoy a small ice cream.
Same idea at the Leo Amstelring care center. This time it’s from an Amsterdam bar that Catharina Post and her husband, Jan, who has severe dementia, can enjoy. His brain can only create 10 seconds of short-term memory. Little, but enough to be able to savor the real beers served in the reconstituted place, or even appreciate the projection of the image of a tram stop at Amsterdam Central Station, on which he used to sit. Sit. “Seventy years we’ve been married and we’re still in love,” said 92-year-old Ms Post. For Dr Scherder, neuropsychologist in Amsterdam, the finding is clear. “Leaving (the patients) in a chair, passive, progresses the disease much faster,” he says. Katja Ebben, head of intensive care at the Vitalis Peppelrode nursing home, also noticed that with these new techniques, her patients needed less medicine and the use of force.
500 households are already equipped with simulators
To avoid the stressful environments of hospitals, the Dutch brought these methods into their own homes, so most people with dementia live at home. The facilities, which are privately run but publicly funded, are usually reserved for people with advanced disease. More than 500 households are already equipped with simulators.
As the world’s population ages, the number of people with dementia is expected to triple from 50 to 152 million by 2050. “There are nearly 10 million new cases of dementia per year, of which 6 million are in low- and middle-income countries. The suffering that this disease causes is enormous. We must react: we must pay more attention to this growing problem and ensure that all people with dementia, wherever they live, receive the care they need “, says Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, Director-General of the World Health Organization (WHO).
.