Dementia program in Peel 'should spread like wildfire'

With a rapidly aging population, Japanese senior services are turning to innovative technology to expand the capacity to care for seniors as well as increase quality of life. VR technology takes seniors on trips to locations around the world, while robots in living facilities provide companionship as well as protection for residents.

At Arizona State, retirees pay a fee to live on campus, take classes, and be a part of the college community. This setup offers a unique opportunity for intergenerational mixing and mentoring and a new revenue stream for institutions with declining enrollment.

Dementia units and long-term care homes for the elderly are often desolate and lonely places, with harried workers attempting to meet the needs of their patients while also meeting government-set metrics of success. For families and individuals, it can be difficult to imagine a better way. However, a pilot program in Canada called the Butterfly room is showing that dedicated efforts to making long-term care homes a vibrant and loving place for someone's last days has positive impacts for everyone - and is worth a government investment do right across the country.

A shortage of caregivers throughout the U.S. has forced the industry to rethink how it's attracting workers, especially men. From simplifying applications to better targeted outreach, organizations are implementing new strategies that, so far, are working.

A mobile "strike team" comprised of workers from Contra Costa County, local home health agencies, advocates, and nonprofit groups is helping seniors living in assisted-living facilities to get access to the Covid-19 vaccine. Although the team is small, they have been able to help more than 800 seniors across 50 facilities get their first shot.

To better serve patients struggling with dementia, a hospital in Berlin established a department of geriatrics and began screening "patients for cognitive impairments upon admission, providing them with trained volunteers for personal support and non-pharmacological interventions to prevent delirium." This course of action has helped the hospital to diagnose cases earlier and offer dementia-specific care for patients, which consequently has reduced the prescribing of drugs for these patients.

Several San Diego organizations bring pets into senior-living facilities and hospitals to provide the scientifically proven benefits of a pet's companionship. The focus on elderly people, including those with dementia, becomes a high point in the facilities' schedules. Research has shown pet therapy's benefits go beyond momentary comfort to emotional and even physical benefits.

The James L. West Center for Dementia Care’s Senior Day Program offers engaging activities like dance, music therapy and cooking classes, and a sense of community for people with dementia, while giving family caregivers a break. The Center currently cares for about 13 people each day, though it has the capacity for up to 20 people and is slated to expand to help more people.

Companies like Sanofi are beginning to partner with organizations like Bright Horizons to offer eldercare benefits to employees, like in-home adult care services. The benefit allows Bright Horizons to dispatch care workers to a person’s home and the company administering the benefit subsidizes the majority of the cost. Providing eldercare benefits reduces the burden on employees, allowing them to be more present at work. Since the pandemic, Sanofi has seen a 20% increase in the number of employees registering for the eldercare benefit program.

Priya Living is an elder-living community focused on Indian culture. Priya Living has four locations throughout the state and is planning to expand in Michigan and Texas. Rent in the condo-style units ranges from $2,000 to $3,000 a month and currently serves over 530 people. This culture-focused community helps the aging population fight loneliness and find a sense of community with people they can relate to through activities and programming like yoga, movie screenings and down time to chat.