Memory Care Centre recreates past for dementia patients

At the Memory Care Centre, which specializes in caring for seniorswith dementia,the past can be found around every corner.

There's an office from the 1950s, a barbershop set in a time when haircuts cost 65 cents, and a 1947 Dodge parked in the hallway. An Elvis impersonator performs, charming the female residents.

For many living with dementia, remembering recent events can be a challenge, whereas the memories ofthings they experienceddecades ago oftenremainvivid.

The goal at the Memory Care Centre is to transport residents back to a time where they feel most comfortable and happy. The lines between what is realand what isn'tare deliberately blurred.

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The Memory Care Centre is located at Georgian Bay Retirement Home in Penetanguishene, Ont.Many of the centre's 34 residents are over 80 and all of them have dementia. There is no other place like it in Canada.

"We are embracing their life, taking memories that are precious to them, and elaborating on them," says Wellness Manager Judy Malloy. "I think that we're here to see them through the happier times, because they're the times that they're remembering."

The people who work at the centre say constructing a reality that doesn't exist can bring enormous comfort to the residents and ease the agitation and aggression that can come with memory loss.

Click the video playerto watch The National's documentary on the Memory Care Centre, or watch it here.