Alzheimer's patients revisit Main Street

Alzheimer's patients have long been cared for in settings akin to churches or libraries. The 47 residents of a unit at Family Health West live in a setting designed to stimulate them. They are surrounded by gay colors, lots of activities and a "town" created to spark their early, most intact memories. The faux Main Street has six "shops," 2 indoor "parks" and a cobblestone-tiled "boulevard" - all made to look like the heart of a town the patients might remember from their younger days. This town and the accompanying change in the model of care offered in the Main Street unit have had impacts beyond the expectations of Family Health West. For example patients are acting out less and require less medication, as well as exhibiting more social interaction.