DEMENTIA VILLAGE

The Need:
> Over 6 million people are affected by dementia in India. This number is expected to reach 7.4 million by 2030. Though in India, families are the primary carers, in the advanced stage of the disease, residential care centres play a significant role. It’s estimated that about 20% of persons with dementia require institutional care. Old Age Homes and Hospitals are generally not equipped to handle persons with dementia. Professional and trained caregivers are difficult to find and institutional care support is also woefully lacking and hence the family suffers more than the patients.
> Existing residential dementia care facilities follow the design of a typical hospital or nursing home where people with dementia are housed in a multi-storied building with restrictions on movement. In such environmental conditions, with restricted movement and other challenges due to the infrastructure, person-centric approach specific to residents' cultures and lifestyles may not be feasible, which could aggregate behavioural changes.
> While there is still no cure for dementia through allopathic medicine, an attempt should be made to explore how mixing of allopathic medicine with traditional Indian medicine could improve the quality of living of people with dementia.
> Cost of dementia care is generally not affordable for middle class Indians due to high patient- caregiver ratio and no subsidies from the government. In the absence of government funded support systems, unlike other countries, the cost of taking care of persons with dementia is met by their families. This puts enormous pressure on the family. Therefore, there is a big need to develop an effective support system suitable for India which should be affordable without compromising on the quality of care.

What we intend to do:
Nightingales Medical Trust is planning to establish a unique and ambitious project - a Dementia Village. The first phase of the project will have facility to take care of 300 elders with dementia. Based upon our experiences in running residential dementia care facilities since 2010, the architectural design of the proposed village would be created in such a way that residents can lead normal and independent lives to the maximum possible without compromising on their safety. Residents will be segregated based on social, cultural and linguistic backgrounds and this approach is expected to minimize behavioural issues with minimal medications. Dementia care experts based at NMT’s main centre in Bangalore would monitor the functioning of the project and the patients at the Village through Tele-medicine solutions. The efficacy of traditional Indian medicine would be explored along with allopathic treatment. Training would be an important facet of this, and every year about 1000 caregivers are expected to be trained. It is aimed that the cost of care at the Village would be 50% lesser compared to residential care facilities in Bangalore. 

How you can help:
> Help us get 7-10 acres of land suitable for this project, within 60 min from Bangalore. If the land is provided free of cost, co-branding is possible.
> Put us in touch with an organization that may be willing to collaborate
> Assist us in planning and executing the project
> Donate towards the project cost