Alzheimer's Disease

From CollabLandWiki

Alzheimer's Disease

Alzheimer's disease is a progressive disorder that gradually destroys a persons memory and ability to learn, reason, make judgments, communicate and carry out daily activities. Persons may also experience changes in personality and behavior such as anxiety, suspiciousness or agitation as well as delusions or hallucinations. Alzheimer's affects roughly 1% of those 65 years of age, but almost 40% of those 85 and older.

Symptoms

- Memory Loss

- Difficulty performing familiar tasks

- Problems with language

- Disorientation about time and place

- Poor and decreased judgment

- Problems with abstract thinking

- Misplacing things

- Changes in mood or behavior

- Changes in personality

-Loss of initiative

Early Alzheimer's Disease can go unnoticed if you are with the affected person all the time. Also, people with early signs develop great coping skills to make up for the memory loss. This makes it even harder to detect because it is being covered up. The only certain way to diagnose Alzheimer's Disease is by brain autopsy.

Alzheimer's Disease is a very specific disease and can be greatly influenced by the patients surroundings. Even something as harmless as a long hallway can affect an Alzheimer's patient enough that he or she will not even leave there room. This also means that a landscape could negatively or positively affect an Alzheimer's patient as well. Effective care and support can improve quality of life for patients over the course of the disease.

Landscape Solutions

Main Concepts

Design should:

- provide exercise, opportunities to relieve tension, frustration and aggression

- provide personal space for reflection and privacy

- provide a different social environment

- provide stimulation with colour, smells and sounds of wildlife

- include paths that are continuous and lead back to the building

- main paths that lead to smaller, meandering paths

- a fenced and secure perimeter but uphold the appearance of openness

- include landscaping that is raised to allow participation and interaction

- non-toxic landscape

There are also some activities in which the design should have ample space for and they include:

Movement and Dance Therapy

-helps with mind/body/spirit connection

-found to be an effective form of communication

-used to increase bodily awareness, stimulate spontaneous expressions of feeling and promote social interactions

Music Therapy

-allows patients to maintain a level of independence

-helps to slow the decline of awareness and expression

References

http://www.alz.org/alzheimers_disease_what_is_alzheimers.asp

http://www.heatherhill.org/musicresearch.html

http://alzheimers.about.com/od/familyandfriends/a/garden_design.htm

Photos

http://flickr.com/photos/65542850@N00/225036858/

http://flickr.com/photos/maynardclark/310706025/

http://flickr.com/photos/49354133@N00/96511740/

http://flickr.com/photos/teulfelskreis/148378962