Imagine a building that housed adult day services that offered a broad menu of the latest approaches in creative engagement techniques. Music, dance, visual art. Intensive sensory stimulation. The rooms also have an observation room attached, so researchers can watch and code – and approach engagement with the same rigor as pill research.
Imagine that that building also has in it an auditorium, classroom, and conference room with all technological amenities to support international gatherings of experts.
Imagine it also has rooms for families to have respite overnight. And several private rooms for longer term stays. Imagine a high-design lobby with stunning modern furniture and long/tall (seemingly endless) windows overlooking a medieval university town.
This place exists. Perched on a hill outside Salamanca Spain, this is where the panel of international experts in “non-pharmacological” care approaches for people with dementia gathered in late May of 2010. And where perhaps 5 more such gatherings will take place over the course of the year.
From the perspective of “person-centered care” (or person directed or or or ), it’s not perfect. Some staff wore white lab coats and its not clear how much choice the participants/residents had in their programming. But the intention of the place, and the grandness of the commitment to that intention is astounding. It is a place with resources and leadership and staffing dedicated to finding the best way to CARE for people with dementia, and through best care practices, changing the course of the disease.
I felt honored to be among the first gathering in Salamanca, and will eagerly follow the news of the next rounds of expert gatherings…
