A Twist on Caring for a Parent: Move Into the Home

Connecting with art enriches the lives of patients struggling with dementia and Alzheimers. Across Germany, several programs are using art to stimulate the minds of an aging population. At the Lehmbruck Museum in Duisburg, seniors meet to discuss art pieces that affect them. Elsewhere, in Bonn, the Demezionen theater ensemble performs for retirement homes. And even clowns can bring a positive atmosphere to seniors struggling with dementia!

Loneliness and social isolation are on the rise globally, and feelings of loneliness can be extremely detrimental to health and longevity. In Denmark, the "National Movement Against Loneliness" and GENLYD train community members to recognize signs of loneliness and refer those at risk to these programs and provide services such as group dinners and group activities based on hobby.

A program called Time Slips is aiming to make nursing homes in Kentucky hubs for artistic expression and creativity. They are tracking how expressing creativity and engaging in art therapy improves residents' health outcomes and family satisfaction. This program also engages nursing home residents in their community, making them feel less stigmatized by their age.

An alternative model to nursing homes is offering an innovative option that provides a comfortable, warm, and inviting environment to residents while also minimizing the spread of coronavirus. Green House Project (GHP) began as the brainchild of Dr. Bill Thomas, who sought to “humanize” nursing homes by creating home-based care for small groups of senior citizens. GHP has scaled the idea to 32 states by providing training to senior living providers on how to recreate the environment and resources necessary to help elders thrive and feel at home.

Faced with an obesity epidemic, communities in Australia are making changes to become healthier and promote a healthy lifestyle. Programs have included increased education around grocery shopping with a nutritional mindset as well as increasing exercise through initiatives that encourage children to walk to school. Since making changes, individuals in the communities have attested to the effectiveness and obesity and overweight rates in some regions have notably decreased.

Several San Diego organizations bring pets into senior-living facilities and hospitals to provide the scientifically proven benefits of a pet's companionship. The focus on elderly people, including those with dementia, becomes a high point in the facilities' schedules. Research has shown pet therapy's benefits go beyond momentary comfort to emotional and even physical benefits.

Programs that promote interaction between young and old people benefit both groups emotionally. At a retirement community, Collington, music students perform for and interact with the residents in return for free room and board. Pop-up concerts and shared meals form friendships of the sort that research shows can reduce older adults' loneliness and increase their cognitive engagement. Young people gain in empathy, while both groups can make each other feel more needed. Programs responding to social isolation also bring children as young as infants into senior housing.

An epidemic of Hepititis C has been effecting members of the Cherokee Nation at alarming rates, while consistently going unnoticed. Establishing screening systems with free care for members, the Hep C Elimination Project has been tackling this issue.

The U.S. prison population is aging, which is costly because older inmates need more care. Some states have responded by creating special wards, having the young inmates care for the old, or building nursing homes.

The University of Arizona's Commitment to Underserved People (CUP) program operates 12 student-run free clinics that provide comprehensive medical, mental health, and social support services to Tucson's unhoused and uninsured residents. In 2024 they served 525 patients while simultaneously training the next generation of community-minded physicians.