Match It For Pratchett

The Fake Bus Stop

Q. How do you stop Alzheimer's patients wandering away from a care home?

A. Build a fake bus stop.

“It sounds funny,” said Old Lions Chairman Franz-Josef Goebel, “but it helps. Our members are 84 years-old on average. Their short-term memory hardly works at all, but the long-term memory is still active. They know the green and yellow bus sign and remember that waiting there means they will go home.” The result is that errant patients now wait for their trip home at the bus stop, before quickly forgetting why they were there in the first place.

“We will approach them and say that the bus is coming later today and invite them in to the home for a coffee,” said Mr Neureither. “Five minutes later they have completely forgotten they wanted to leave.” The idea has proved so successful that it has now been adopted by several other homes across Germany.

It is a clever solution and a makes for a mildly amusing story but most importantly it is a reminder of the true cost of Alzhemier's. The loss of so much mental capacity that a fake bus stop will confound you.

Source: Wayward Alzheimer's patients foiled by fake bus stop via Boing Boing

Alzheimer Patients Demand Better Treatment

Brainblog points out an article in the New York Times about Alzheimer's.

Don Hayen has a handy way of deflecting the instant pity that comes when he reveals his Alzheimer's disease: "But I haven't lost my keys all day," he quickly jokes. Hayen is part of a growing new movement in Alzheimer's: Patients diagnosed early enough to still be articulate and demand better care and better research.

Earlier diagnosis giving Alzheimer's a new voice