Artists Are Painting Trompe L'Oeil Murals to Soothe People with Dementia

The National Gallery of Art’s “Just Us” program brings seniors with memory loss symptoms to the museum for ‘meditation’ on paintings. Using the paintings as prompts, visitors are encouraged to react to and interpret what is before them mentally engaging them and providing an opportunity for socialization.

At intergenerational care facilities, early learning programs co-locate with senior homes, giving students and care residents plenty of opportunities to interact. Research shows this type of intergenerational program can have physical and cognitive benefits for both the adults and the children involved in them.

A mobile "strike team" comprised of workers from Contra Costa County, local home health agencies, advocates, and nonprofit groups is helping seniors living in assisted-living facilities to get access to the Covid-19 vaccine. Although the team is small, they have been able to help more than 800 seniors across 50 facilities get their first shot.

City officials in Berkeley have recently implemented a mobile testing site for Covid-19 to better reach vulnerable populations throughout the region. Although the physical testing site will remain as the central point for testing, the mobile option has helped test those in senior homes and nursing facilities, as well as their caretakers.

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!

A Chicago-based program called Caring Together, Living Better is aiming to increase support to family members acting as caregivers for the elderly in their lives by providing resources directly in their churches. Focused primarily on minority communities, this creative collaboration uses trained volunteers to provide resources to those in attendance.

With little progress made on a successful treatment for Alzheimer's and prices for monitored care and medications rising, several technology companies are focusing on better ways to manage care. Through tactics such as virtual reality, robotic animals and facial analyzation, these companies are trying to both better serve the patient as well as support the families.

A good pampering can feel fantastic. Beauty and wellness experiences such as pedicures and massages are particularly special for women and men in care homes, lifting moods and helping individuals express themselves. “It’s rewarding, humbling, a privilege,” Back to Beauty founder Sarah Rigden says. “They come in a little bit stressed and a little bit anxious, and they go out with a smile on their face.”

To better serve patients struggling with dementia, a hospital in Berlin established a department of geriatrics and began screening "patients for cognitive impairments upon admission, providing them with trained volunteers for personal support and non-pharmacological interventions to prevent delirium." This course of action has helped the hospital to diagnose cases earlier and offer dementia-specific care for patients, which consequently has reduced the prescribing of drugs for these patients.

As a way to raise funds and awareness for stormwater education, some cities are turning rain barrels into an art exhibit. Rain barrels catch water as it runs off rooftops, which can be used later for watering plants. It also reduces the amount of water that picks up pollutants and is carried into waterways. The Ashland Soil and Water Conservancy District in Ohio featured 10 rain barrels painted by local artists, allowing residents to vote and bid on their favorite design. Their efforts were inspired by a similar event in Indiana where they’ve auctioned 100 barrels for residents to use at home.