Calif. Facility Stages A 1950s-Era Town Square As Part Of Its Reminiscence Therapy For Dementia Patients
The style of treatment uses prompts from a person’s past — such as music, movies and photographs — to elicit memories and encourage conversation and engagement, and has been gaining traction after having success in other countries.
The Wall Street Journal:
To Help Alzheimer’s Patients, A Care Center Re-Creates The 1950s
The two men, high school buddies, sit in a turquoise and white booth at Rosie’s Diner, ribbing each other like they are teenagers at Sweetwater High School where they played baseball together so many years ago. A 1950s-era jukebox spits out tunes like “Peggy Sue” by Buddy Holly. Vinyl records and black-and-white pictures of celebrities like Elvis Presley and Audrey Hepburn line the walls. Now in their 70s, James Mann and Richard Eshbach are actually in Glenner Town Square, a new adult day-care center for dementia patients that is like entering a time warp. The 11 storefronts that surround an indoor park represent the time period from 1953 to 1961, when most of the patients were in the prime of their life. (Reddy, 9/18)
In other public health news —
San Francisco Chronicle:
Amid Revenue Decline, Fitbit Introduces Health Feature For Diabetes, Hypertension
Fitbit has struggled to keep up with competitors in the smartwatch business. Now the San Francisco fitness device maker is announcing a new health care service it hopes will help millions monitor chronic conditions like diabetes and hypertension. (Ho, 9/19)