The New York Times published an article last week on ElderServe at Night, a night program run by the Hebrew Home at Riverdale for people suffering with Alzheimer’s disease.
Quoting from the article:
Nighttime can be treacherous for people with dementia, who are often struck by sleeplessness or night terrors and prone to wandering about. This agitation and disorientation, called “sundowning,” is especially vexing for relatives trying to care for them at home, and often hastens their placement in nursing homes.
While there are countless day care programs for the nation’s estimated 5.3 million Alzheimer’s patients, some experts believe that ElderServe at Night, which began a decade ago, is the only one of its kind in the country.
Participants are fetched from their homes by vans and spend 7 p.m. to 7 a.m. painting, potting plants, dancing and talking — or, for those immobilized by their disease, relaxing amid music, massage and twinkling lights. The patients rest as they need, for a few minutes or a few hours, and return home the next morning fed, showered and, usually, tuckered out.
The article and a video are at All-Night Care for Dementia’s Restless Minds, by Cara Buckley and James Estrin, NYTimes, 6/12/09.
The New Old Age blog linked the article and there are some excellent reader comments there that are well worth reading.
SE
Related posts:
