form of dementia to look at those suffering in a belittling way. We need to remember that they are still people with real feelings. In visiting the many nursing homes searching for the right one for my grandmother, we ran across many different environments that were created for dementia patients. Some places had set-ups where they were sectioned off completely from the rest of the nursing home. They only ate and interacted with others suffering from dementia. I think one of the problems with this type of design is that the patient is taken away from the type of living that they were used to before the onset of their disease. It would be a hard transition to make moving from possibly their own home to a place where it seemed they were almost secluded to a dementia patients way of life. The one common characteristic of all the places we were was that it seemed that all of the staff working with the dementia patients had been trained and understood how to treat the patients without being belittling. They all seemed very understanding of the different emotions, outbursts, and dispositions of the patients. I think that communities that have nursing homes in them or near them should definitely be aware in just the same way that those on staff were of how to treat an Alzheimers patient. If there were a greater understanding of what these people were going through and how to communicate with them, then I think it would make the lives of those involved with Alzheimers much easier. One step communities could take is to start programs in schools where students are taught and even exposed to the different diseases and conditions the elderly suffer from. Volunteering at nursing homes is one of the best ways to be exposed to the elderly and their lives. As a volunteer you are not necessarily playing a professional role, rather, you are playing the role of a friend to the patients. Volunteering could be at different levels, such as helpin...
