Retro-themed town to help people with dementia скачать в хорошем качестве

Retro-themed town to help people with dementia

(23 Apr 2019) LEADIN: A 9,000-square foot industrial space in California has been transformed into a 1950s American town. The retro-themed destination was built as a reminiscence therapy center, to prompt the memories of people with dementia. STORYLINE: From the outside, it looks like any other nondescript United States business park, easily missed if you're driving through. But enter this 9,000-square foot warehouse just south of San Diego, and you'll discover a makeshift town that's straight out of the 1950s. It's essentially a daycare center for elderly people with Alzheimer's. But for the people who come here, it's a time machine. The surroundings aim to transport visitors to more youthful times and jog forgotten memories. "Town Square" has everything a mid-century U.S. village needs. A pink and blue diner has pride of place. It's kitted out with a working jukebox and posters of Hollywood legends like James Dean, Grace Kelly and Audrey Hepburn. Outside is a 1959 black Ford Thunderbird, polished to a high shine. A movie theatre advertises its blockbusters "A Streetcar Named Desire" and "The Greatest Show on Earth". Scott Tarde is the creator of Town Square. Tarde is the CEO of George G. Glenner Family Alzheimer's Centers, a non-profit organization, which has run this reminiscence therapy center since August 2018. Reminiscence therapy has been around for about fifty years. The aim is to spark past memories, usually with the aid of tangible prompts, such as photographs, music and other familiar items and surroundings. Tarde says it's important that people with Alzheimer's can visit a place like this on a daily basis. "If you told family members that have children that the only option, they have for their loved ones was a residential home, when they were trying to drop their children off to go to work, they would think that was absurd," he says. "But somehow, we've gotten to a point in our society where residential options are about the only option for people as they age. That's where I think we can do better." Helping make up the town are fourteen shop fronts, including a newsstand with 1950s DC comics and magazines. There's also a city hall, a pet store, a library and a barber shop, aptly named "Silver Fox". In the diner, patients relax over lunch and listen to hits from the 50s on the jukebox. Tarde likes to pop in and welcome guests. He says it's important that patients with dementia are given alternative options to residential care, such as the quality of daycare they can enjoy at his facility. Tarde believes it's important the design of Town Square mimics real life experience, real-life outside of the center. "I've always felt very strongly about creating an environment in a space that was really meaningful to individuals," he says. "What's not meaningful to most people, but certainly people with Alzheimer's and related dementia, is being at home all day long, which is so common now in society is that really not having a place where an individual can engage and have a meaningful day. "So, our goal here, in the design, was to create an experience that was much more consistent with what somebody's lifestyle would've been like." Alzheimer's is the sixth leading cause of death in the United States. According to the Alzheimer's Association, it's set to get worse. The non-profit says about six million Americans are living with Alzheimer's. By 2050, that number is projected to rise to almost 14 million. "We have to start preparing ourselves as a country for the number of people that are going to need this type of service," says Tarde. Find out more about AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/HowWeWork Twitter:   / ap_archive   Facebook:   / aparchives   ​​ Instagram:   / apnews   You can license this story through AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/metadata/you...