Inside Canada’s picture-perfect ‘dementia village’, offering a new approach to hospice care
Picture-perfect homes, manicured gardens, a local store, a farm that houses llamas and chickens, a hair salon, and a wholesome restaurant with beer and margaritas on tap.
These are not the typical elements of an assisted living facility, but Langley Town in Canada is looking to turn the concept of dementia care on its head, with a home atmosphere rather than a hospice.
The ‘dementia village’ opened in 2019 and currently houses 75 residents who pay between $8,000 and $10,000 per month depending on their individual care requirements and also houses a brigade of staff who wear everyday clothes instead of gowns .
On the Village Langley Instagram page, a description reads: ‘The Village enables a safe and enriched life for people living with dementia. Our model supports quality of life, fulfillment, dignity and choice.’
Village Langley opened in 2019 and is currently home to 75 residents
‘Villagers’ pay between $8,000 and $10,000 per month for 24/7 care.
On the Village Langley Instagram page, a description reads: ‘The Village enables a safe and enriched life for people living with dementia. Our model supports…dignity and choice’
Rather than being confined to their dwellings, residents are free to explore the grounds at their leisure.
Each house on the estate has capacity for 12 people who live with support staff.
Rather than being confined to their homes, residents are free to explore the grounds as they please, with 2.5-meter-high fences, cameras and sensors ensuring their safety.
Natalie Podwinski has worked at Village Langley since it opened as ‘Life Enrichment Manager’ and says she fully supports the concept of dementia care.
She told DailyMail.com: ‘The Village Langley is unique in the way it is organically changing its routines and life enrichment programs for the needs and desires of the villagers as they progress through their journey with dementia.
‘We help make every day a great one for our villagers! We call our residents villagers rather than patients to make them feel at home.’
She says the relaxed atmosphere brings many benefits to residents and staff have seen ‘less frustrating and aggressive behavior due to this approach’.
The health worker added: ‘The trained staff understand the importance of remaining flexible and adapting to the needs of the villagers. This allows villagers to feel a sense of control in their day-to-day lives and to maintain their identity and autonomy.’
Alan Meggy, 75, has lived in Village Langley since August 2021 and was told by his long-time friend, Carole Chesham global news that she is also a defender of the model.
There is a humble local shop where the villagers can browse for products.
Natalie Podwinski has worked at Village Langley since it opened as ‘Life Enrichment Manager’ and says she fully supports the concept of dementia care.
Staff say they have seen “less frustrating and aggressive behaviour” thanks to a more relaxed atmosphere at the care center.
Langley Village was the vision of Elroy Jespersen, who worked in senior living for nearly three decades before founding his own operation.
Alan was a keen adventurer before he was diagnosed with dementia, climbing some of the world’s most challenging mountains and driving race cars.
carole says that she thinks that ‘it’s very important when you’ve been an active person, that you’re in a place where you don’t feel institutionalized, where you feel a sense of freedom’.
That was the vision of Elroy Jespersen, who worked in senior housing for nearly three decades before co-founding Village Langley.
After hosting several frustrations with the traditional healthcare system, he devoted himself to researching a better way to care for dementia patients and was inspired by a similar operation in the Netherlands.
He explained: ‘To make society realize that people with dementia are first and foremost people.
They are your family in many cases. They can live a good life, a different life, perhaps, but still a good life.
Jespersen and his team set about building a five-acre village with the goal of making it as ‘deinstitutionalized’ as possible.
According to the Alzheimer’s Association, more than 747,000 Canadians are living with Alzheimer’s or another form of dementia.
Podwinski said that if he had to sum up the Village in three words, they would be “commitment, freedom and comfort.”
There are llamas in the villagers, which the residents can pet and feed.
‘Institutions, hospitals wear uniforms, wear gowns, wear gowns. And we do not want that, we are not that. So only [tell the staff to] dress normal,’ Jespersen explained.
His employee, Podwinski, said that if he had to sum up Village in three words, they would be “commitment, freedom and convenience.”
It gives those living with dementia freedom of movement and the chance to run their own day. This helps maintain a part of their independence.
Asked what impressed her most during her time there, she told DailyMail.com: “I’m impressed [with] how the villagers light up when they help the staff deliver the newspapers to the houses, how they help wash the dishes after a meal, go to the general store to “shop” and do the daily things they used to do at home.
‘This brings so much joy to your day.’
She concludes: ‘I definitely think more places should adopt the model we have.
“It gives those living with dementia a freedom of movement and the chance to run their own day. This helps to maintain a part of their independence.’
According to the Alzheimer’s Association, more than 747,000 Canadians are living with the condition or another form of dementia.
And worldwide, that number is at least 44 million, making the disease “a global health crisis that must be addressed.”
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