The Easton Home’s Memory Kitchen (Screenshot from www.presbyterianseniorliving.com)
Nursing homes and assisted living facilities across the nation are slowly transitioning to create specialized memory units for their dementia patients.
The idea behind these Memory Lane designs — which sometimes include features such as a cast iron stove or a wood-paneled radio — is “reminiscence as therapy,” according to the Asssociated Press.
Having familiar surroundings doesn’t help prevent Alzheimer’s disease, but it can make patients more comfortable.
Penn Memory Center Co-Director Dr. Jason Karlawish told the AP that there are logistical concerns, but not enough to reject the concept.
“The concept of putting together a memory unit with images and other sounds and other imagery that evoke a certain time raises the question of what time, what images, when and how to update,” he said. “But I’d rather have those conversations and debates than not have them.”
Read the complete article here. Click here for a video of the 1940s-themed room at The Easton Home in Easton, Pa.