Grandma Ren, who lives in Hangzhou, is 78 years old. After being diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease, she often loses control of her mood at dusk, has trouble sleeping at night, keeps rummaging for items, sometimes becomes agitated with words, and even hits people. During the period of home care, her wife and brother could only take turns staying by the elderly person's side. Day after day of care is physically and mentally exhausting for the family. The heavy pressure brought about by dementia puts the whole family in trouble.
After staying in our home·Hangzhou Shengli River Chengxin Community for a period of time, changes took place: Grandma Ren began to cooperate with puzzles, handmade flowers, and painting and coloring. Her sleep became regular, and her swearing and night outings were greatly reduced. When doing handicrafts, she would still think about asking the caregiver "Have you eaten?" - the heart locked by the disease showed softness again.
A report from the China Association on Aging shows that by 2030, the number of people with dementia aged 60 and above in my country will reach 22.2 million. Behind every number is a family that has been "forgotten" and changed. Dementia care services are not just about “taking good care of patients”, but also a set of solutions for families.
Those "abnormal behaviors" are unspeakable expressions
The biggest misunderstanding among the public about dementia is that the elderly’s abnormal behavior is regarded as “foolish” or “bad tempered”. The first lesson in modern dementia care is to overturn this perception. The world of the elderly with dementia is completely different from what we see: the self in the mirror is broken and unfamiliar, the flat ground is undulating, the hands of time are no longer reliable, and familiar people suddenly cannot be recognized. Those confusing behaviors are actually their instinctive responses to the distorted world - behind rejection may be uneasiness, behind attack may be defense, behind repetition may be confirmation, and behind retreat may be task difficulty.
The dementia care of "Everyone's Home", a professional senior care brand under Everyone's Insurance, follows the three steps of "seeing-understanding-responding": first identify what happened, then understand why it happened, and finally support "how he wants to live."
Our Home·Dementia Friendly Space in Hangzhou Shengli River City Center Community Photo courtesy of Everyone Insurance
In the care records of Grandma Ren from the nursing staff of Shengli River Chengxin Community in Hangzhou, this set of logic is specific and gentle: if you are irritable at dusk, turn on the soft lights in advance and close the curtains before dark, and use light to buffer the uneasiness; when wandering at night, do not force her to stop her, but walk slowly with her to check whether she is holding back urine, in pain, or the environment is too noisy; when her emotions break out, never talk back or confront her, hold her hand when her emotions calm down, and use touch to let her emotions land. At the same time, the medical team fully communicated with the family members and established an integrated care plan that combined drugs and non-drugs with informed consent. The caregiver recorded the triggers and duration of each mood swing in detail, and provided timely feedback to the doctor to adjust the treatment plan.
Elderly people participate in non-drug intervention activities. Photo provided by DaJia Insurance
"Three Friendly" Dementia Services, the "Full-Cycle Answer" for the Elderly
Our professional dementia care system is a set of continuously iterative care methodologies - dementia-friendly = friendly environment × friendly team × friendly service.
The dementia area of Chengxin Medical Community is composed of "19 standard modules + 12 personalized empowerment modules". 17 non-drug intervention therapies are integrated into the space design and follow the four environmental principles of "identification, direction, familiarity and safety".
As for the friendly team, all members have passed the HCA dementia care training and assessment, introduced VR immersive training to allow caregivers to enter the elderly’s sensory world, adhered to the zero-binding commitment, and protected the elderly’s sense of security with familiar faces.
Dementia is a progressive disease and requires completely different services at different stages. Our professional home care system covers the entire cycle: early screening and prevention—mild cognitive impairment intervention—post-illness care—dignity support and palliative care. In the early stage, risk windows are identified through chronic disease management and cognitive risk screening; in the mild stage, cognitive training, ability maintenance, interest expansion, and group intervention are used to delay decline; after diagnosis, based on the internationally accepted BPSD (psychiatric behavioral symptoms) assessment and comprehensive ability assessment, a three-level personalized care plan is output - for mild cases, emotional comfort and life rhythm reconstruction are the main focus, for moderate cases, a supportive environment and multidisciplinary non-pharmacological therapies are integrated, and for severe cases, joint care and 24-hour care are provided by the multidisciplinary team of a tertiary hospital.
In our home, Hefei Wutongli Chengxin Community, 76-year-old Grandpa Zhou is suffering from hemiplegia after a cerebral infarction, and his wife, Grandma Zheng, has been separated for a long time due to dementia. She no longer recognizes her husband, who has been with her for decades. After the evaluation, the community made a bold and warm arrangement - letting the elderly couple live in the same apartment, and use the hanging garden to take a walk, listen to Chaohu tunes, and do handicrafts together and other carefully designed common activities to re-activate the emotional connection. Later, the wife who "didn't know him" smiled again. The children said: "The most important thing is that the love between parents is back." Professional care services are not just a matter of survival, but also memory, companionship and love.
Dementia families need to be seen too
"When I sent my mother here, I felt like a deserter." This is the common sentiment of many family members. Families of people with dementia are often overlooked. Modern dementia services also include family members as service objects: before moving in, the disease and the risks and benefits of the treatment plan are fully communicated with the family members, and a consensus on integrated care is established; after moving in, the nursing team records the elderly's mood swings, behavioral triggers, and intervention effects in detail, and synchronizes with the family members regularly; at the same time, it provides emotional support to the family members who are burdened with the burden.
Our home·"Home·Coffee" space in Jing'an City Center Community, Shanghai Photo courtesy of Everyone Insurance
Our Home·The "Home·Coffee" public welfare base in Shanghai Jing'an City Center Community organically integrates coffee culture, health science popularization, and cognitive intervention, lowers the threshold of dementia science popularization with a life-oriented and immersive experience, and arouses the whole society's widespread attention to the brain health of the elderly and the care of cognitive impairment groups. The base is also open to the general public and carries functions such as brain health science popularization, dementia family respite support, and intergenerational interaction and communication, creating a dementia-friendly ecosystem that integrates institutional care, family support, and social advocacy.
The end point of service is a dementia-friendly society
Half of the pain suffered by families with dementia comes from the disease itself and half from social prejudice and stigma. In the end, professional dementia care services must be directed to the social level: improving the multi-level elderly care service system and breaking social prejudice against dementia through popular science.
On the occasion of World Alzheimer's Month in September this year, our home launched the "Symphony of the Gorges" series of dementia-themed month activities to help the public better understand dementia patients and dementia care: the brain science theme exhibition at the China Science and Technology Museum allows the public to immerse themselves in cognitive experience The world of the elderly with dementia, Xuanwu Hospital of Capital Medical University launched the "Age-Reverse Brain Project" charity donation in Beijing's Friendship City Heart Community, the implementation of the practice base for animal-assisted therapists, and the "Home·Coffee" silver age coffee charity event, etc., allowing the public to re-understand Alzheimer's disease through participation.
From caring for the elderly, to supporting families, to making a difference in society – Our Home’s complete portfolio of dementia services is a complete set of solutions for the entire family and even the entire community. Its core concept is not to define the elderly as disease patients, but always to see them as people with experiences, habits, relationships, and choices. When professional care allows the elderly to maintain their dignity, allows their families to regain their lives, and allows society to put aside its prejudices, the word "care" can truly be fully written.
