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Dementia Sufferers Get Unusual Help

Fake bus stops give restless elderly patients a destination

By Jonas Oransky,  Newser Staff

Posted Jun 6, 2008 5:00 PM CDT

(Newser) – German retirement homes have found a new way to help patients: building fake bus stops. Dementia sufferers who insist they have somewhere to go now have a destination, giving them a sense of control. That helps calm them, even if they forget where they're "going" after spending some time in the waiting area, Deutsche Welle reports.

“You can't rely on rational arguments with dementia sufferers,” said one retirement home employee. “You have to enter into their reality.” Added another, “The sense that they have the freedom to do what they feel they need to do is very soothing to patients.”

WEST GERMANY. Hessen region. Frankfurt am Main. 1962. Bus stop.
WEST GERMANY. Hessen region. Frankfurt am Main. 1962. Bus stop.   (Magnum Photos)
A woman smokes at a bus stop in Novy Arbat Street in downtown Moscow, Friday, April 11, 2008.
A woman smokes at a bus stop in Novy Arbat Street in downtown Moscow, Friday, April 11, 2008.   (AP Photo/Alexander Zemlianichenko)
After waiting for a long delay, a bus rider signals the driver at a bus stop as the city bus approaches Saturday, March 8, 2008 in Columbus, Ohio.
After waiting for a long delay, a bus rider signals the driver at a bus stop as the city bus approaches Saturday, March 8, 2008 in Columbus, Ohio.   (AP Photo/Kiichiro Sato)
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