A new concept for dementia care will be opening in the Comox Valley on the same site as St. Joseph's hospital.
A Dutch model for seniors care known as the dementia village in De Hogeweyk Netherlands will serve as the vision for a major Providence Health Care redevelopment on the island.
Jo-Ann Tait, Corporate Director of Seniors Care and Palliative Services for Providence says that they want to create a facility that you and I would be comfortable going to if we had dementia. “The concept is households of people who live together that share a common bond, and have easy access to the outdoors. But the outskirts of the entire perimeter is secure. If you and I had to live in a care home and we had dementia, this is a place that we would want to live in. And when we come from that basis I think, we actually begin to revolutionize and transform the way that care homes should be." "
Tait says the plans include providing facilities that both seniors and their families can enjoy, including a grocery store, music room, and pub.
When asked whether it was a good idea to have a pub in a dementia village Jo-Ann Tait said, “I believe that when people are given the chance to make independent choices, it can remarkably improve the quality of life in the individuals of the people that are being supported.”
This is the second dementia village in the works for Providence with plans for a dementia village for Heather Street in Vancouver revealed last year.