, operated by nursing home , is a gated

model village A model village is a mostly self-contained community, built from the late 18th century onwards by landowners and business magnates to house their workers. "Model" implies an ideal to which other developments could aspire. Although the villages ...

Weesp Weesp () is a List of cities in the Netherlands by province, city and an urban area in the Municipalities of the Netherlands, municipality of Amsterdam in the Provinces of the netherlands, province of North Holland, Netherlands. It had a populati ...

Netherlands , Terminology of the Low Countries, informally Holland, is a country in Northwestern Europe, with Caribbean Netherlands, overseas territories in the Caribbean. It is the largest of the four constituent countries of the Kingdom of the Nether ...

. It has been designed specifically as a pioneering care facility for elderly people with

dementia Dementia is a syndrome associated with many neurodegenerative diseases, characterized by a general decline in cognitive abilities that affects a person's ability to perform activities of daily living, everyday activities. This typically invo ...

. The benefit of using all-day

reminiscence therapy Reminiscence therapy is an intervention technique used with people who have a memory disorder, by asking about their life history. For example, if an older person sees an old photo or a vintage car, then they may be asked if they remember when t ...

at Hogewey, compared to traditional

nursing home A nursing home is a facility for the residential care of older people, senior citizens, or disabled people. Nursing homes may also be referred to as care homes, skilled nursing facilities (SNF), or long-term care facilities. Often, these terms ...

s, is that the residents with dementia are more active and require less medication.

Layout

The Hogewey complex is set out like a village with a

town square A town square (or public square, urban square, city square or simply square), also called a plaza or piazza, is an open public space commonly found in the heart of a traditional town or city, and which is used for community gatherings. Relat ...

supermarket A supermarket is a self-service Retail#Types of outlets, shop offering a wide variety of food, Drink, beverages and Household goods, household products, organized into sections. Strictly speaking, a supermarket is larger and has a wider selecti ...

, hairdressing salon,

theatre Theatre or theater is a collaborative form of performing art that uses live performers, usually actors to present experiences of a real or imagined event before a live audience in a specific place, often a Stage (theatre), stage. The performe ...

pub A pub (short for public house) is in several countries a drinking establishment licensed to serve alcoholic drinks for consumption on the premises. The term first appeared in England in the late 17th century, to differentiate private ho ...

café A coffeehouse, coffee shop, or café (), is an establishment that serves various types of coffee, espresso, latte, americano and cappuccino, among other hot beverages. Many coffeehouses in West Asia offer ''shisha'' (actually called ''nargi ...

restaurant A restaurant is an establishment that prepares and serves food and drinks to customers. Meals are generally served and eaten on the premises, but many restaurants also offer take-out and Delivery (commerce), food delivery services. Restaurants ...

—as well as the twenty-three houses themselves. In 2018 four houses were added to The Hogeweyk. Each house reflects a style that is common to, and familiar for, the six or seven people who live in that house. The seven settings provided are: * ', for those used to living in an urban area * ', with an

aristocratic Aristocracy (; ) is a form of government that places power in the hands of a small, privileged ruling class, the aristocrats. Across Europe, the aristocracy exercised immense economic, political, and social influence. In Western Christian co ...

Dutch feel * ' for those used to working as trades people or craftsmen/women * ' for those with an association with

Indonesia Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania, between the Indian Ocean, Indian and Pacific Ocean, Pacific oceans. Comprising over List of islands of Indonesia, 17,000 islands, including Sumatra, ...

and the former

Dutch East Indies The Dutch East Indies, also known as the Netherlands East Indies (; ), was a Dutch Empire, Dutch colony with territory mostly comprising the modern state of Indonesia, which Proclamation of Indonesian Independence, declared independence on 17 Au ...

* ' for homemakers * ' for those brought up with theatre and cinema * ' for those with a central religious aspect to life, whether Christian or another religion. The doctors, nurses and carers aim to make the experience as real as possible to the residents. Residents shop at the supermarket and assist with preparing and cooking as they would at home. The carers wear normal daytime clothing rather than clinical clothing and fit into a role that the people living with dementia are likely to be comfortable with; in the working class households the carers are seen to be neighbours or friends, while in the aristocratic/upper class setting, the nurses act akin to servants. The living styles have different types of music playing, significantly varied

interior design Interior design is the art and science of enhancing the interior of a building to achieve a healthier and more aesthetically pleasing environment for the people using the space. With a keen eye for detail and a Creativity, creative flair, an ...

, food and methods of

table setting Table setting (laying a Table (furniture), table) or place setting refers to the way to set a table with tableware—such as eating utensils and for serving and eating. The arrangement for a single diner is called a place setting. It is also the ...

. Residents in each house have their own large bedroom and meet with other residents to share the

living room In Western architecture, a living room, also called a lounge room (Australian English), lounge (British English), sitting room (British English), or drawing room, is a room for relaxing and socializing in a Dwelling, residential house or apa ...

kitchen A kitchen is a room (architecture), room or part of a room used for cooking and food preparation in a dwelling or in a commercial establishment. A modern middle-class residential kitchen is typically equipped with a Kitchen stove, stove, a sink ...

and

dining room A dining room is a room for consuming food. In modern times it is usually next to the kitchen for convenience in serving, though in medieval times it was often on an entirely different floor level. Historically the dining room is furnished with ...

. The village employs 250 staff. The institute has made place for normality and highly trained staff support the residents; if residents are confused they have various methods to make them feel at ease. However, the staff will not deceive the patients if directly asked, truthfully stating that the residents are in a place where they can receive required care for their condition. Because of the nature of

Alzheimer's disease Alzheimer's disease (AD) is a neurodegenerative disease and the cause of 60–70% of cases of dementia. The most common early symptom is difficulty in remembering recent events. As the disease advances, symptoms can include problems wit ...

and dementia, the residents can remember the distant past but not the present, so even truthful answers given by the staff will be forgotten quickly.

History

The first ideas for the village came about in 1992, from the management team (including Yvonne van Amerongen, Jannette Spiering, e.o) at the traditional nursing home Hogewey after discussing how if their parents became affected by Alzheimer's in the future, they would not want them to endure hospital-like care. After a series of research and brainstorming sessions in 1993, the outcome was that normality should prevail in all kind of aspect of nursing home care. This vision was called "normalized small scale living for people with dementia". One of the aspects was that they decided that people generally prefer to surround and interact with other like-minded people of similar backgrounds and experiences. The arrangement at Hogewey provides this by ensuring that residents with similar backgrounds, norms and values continue to live closely together. The Hogeweyk facility was designed by architects Molenaar&Bol&VanDillen, and opened in December 2009 on four acres of land. It consists of low two-story brick buildings, and amenities such as a supermarket and theatre. Construction of the new Hogeweyk facilities cost €19.3 million and was funded primarily by the Dutch government providing €17.8 million, plus €1.5 million in funding and sponsorship from local organisations. The café–restaurant is also open to the public and the theater is hired by local businesses, both of which help with running costs. The cost per resident is similar to more traditional

s at around €5,000 per month. Amerongen was Hogeweys manager on Quality & Innovation at Vivium—the government-owned company that runs Hogewey. Jannette Spiering became director in 2001 and commissioned the build of The Hogeweyk Because of the amount of foreign interest and foreign visitors, The business unit Be, The Hogeweyk car
concept
was created. Yvonne and Jannette are still active as senior consultants.

References

External links

Dementia Village 'De Hogeweyk' in Weesp
architectural designs and plans
De Hogeweyk, Amsterdam, Weesp – NLCNN's ''World's Untold Stories:'' "Dementia Village"
Sanjay Gupta (2013) {{Coord, 52.3143, 5.029, type:city(152)_region:NL_dim:170, display=title Medical and health organisations based in the Netherlands Nursing homes Weesp Alzheimer's disease Mental health in the Netherlands