Bus stop

What, if you forget where you live? What if you can’t remember who are your beloved ones? What if you start loosing your identity?

Well, if you have Alzheimer, this could happen to you. Logically you try to act within your new world, maybe even without being aware of it and you search for orientation.

That might be why sometimes Alzheimer patients wander around and end up somewhere else. A Senior Center in Germany came up with a solution for this: They placed a bus stop in front of the Center. Whenever a patient wants to leave or visit somebody, they are sent to the bus-stop. Usually after a couple of minutes they forget what they wanted and can be easily invited back in again. Convincing them they they couldn’t leave, usually lead into aggressive and opposing behaviour.

Since then this example has been copied at other places (mostly Senior Centers) as well and is usually a success. You can listen to the whole story on www.radiolab.org.

As well as:

• Words

• Strangers in the Mirror

• Do I know you?

• …