As Cases Soar, ‘Dementia Villages’ Look Like the Future of Home Care

Hogeweyk looks like a typical Dutch town; however, it is the world’s first so-called “dementia village,” which first opened in 2009. It sits on four acres in an Amsterdam suburb of Weesp and is funded by the Dutch government. With 188 residents and 27 houses, Hogeweyk is an innovation to the nursing home structure. To live in the village, residents must have severe dementia and be able to move freely about the town and interact with fellow patients, staff, nurses, and doctors. 

Over the past ten years, a record number of dementia cases have been diagnosed worldwide, making “dementia villages” and senior “microtowns” a trend across the globe as many worry that treatment will not be able to keep up with the pace of diagnoses.

For more information see Joann Plockova “As Cases Soar, ‘Dementia Villages’ Look Like the Future of Home Care” The New York Times, July 3, 2023.

Special thanks to Lewis Saret (Attorney, Washington, D.C.) for bringing this article to my attention. 

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