Alzheimers is a very real and human tragedy that robs people not only of their the identify but also their sense of purpose and place in the world. Dealing with Alzheimers patients is even more difficult.

One of the recurring issues with Alzheimers patients is the development of episodes where the patient has a sudden and urgent need ‘to get home’. They forget where they are and who they are and have an overwhelming need to see their children, their pets or sometimes a belief that they need to see their parents. This urgent and often fearful and distressing desire to leave where they are and return home can create all sorts of problems for their carers. The usual repsonse is medication, locked wards and in some cases some form of restraint.

As this podcast from US based WNYC beautifully illustrates there are more innovative ways of dealing with this. At a residential care facility/home in Germany, the management team have repsonded to their patients needs to ‘escape’ by creating a bus stop right out the front of the centre. When an elderly patient does escape, they head to the bus stop and wait for the bus. But no bus ever comes to this stop. As a result staff can go out, sit with the person and after a while as the patient returns from the past to the present they can gently lead them back inside.

This is an absolute corker of a story and is worth listening to.

As our health system groans under the weight of people, demand and bureaucracy it is these innovative approaches that shine a beacon of hope on a way forward that is more caring, more human and provides a practical soltuon to the issues we face as an industry and as a sector.