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Submitted by PatientsEngage on 18 March 2015

Provides respite care for Alzheimer's patients who suffer from "sundowning". Many with Alzheimer's are at their most active after dark. A New York care facility has launched an after-hours camp-style program to entertain them until the morning—and help their caregivers get some sleep.

For months, Ortiz would sleep during the day and be up much of the night wandering around the apartment. Her daughter was too afraid to sleep—afraid her mother might fall and hurt herself or even try to leave the apartment.

“She wanted to sweep the floor. She wanted to watch TV. She wanted to clean the bathroom,” Deltejo remembers. “She wanted to go out. This is at one, 2 o’clock in the morning.”

But now Deltejo is finally getting some sleep – and her mother is being well cared for along with about 40 other clients seven nights a week. Activities may include arts and crafts, cooking, yoga, or Zumba, and even live performances. Though it looks like entertainment, each activity has a therapeutic benefit for memory-compromised people, says Deborah Messina, who runs the overnight program. She described a common problem among dementia patients known as “sundowning.” It is thought to affect about 20 percent of Alzheimer’s patients.

Many people with dementia are more alert at night than they are all day—just when their caregivers need to sleep. Rather than try to alter this mismatch, Elderserve At Night embraces it.

“People were sleeping in front of doorways because they were concerned that mom or dad would wander out of the house,” Pomeranz, executive director of Hebrew Homes says.

http://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2015/03/an-overnight-nursing-home-for-dementia-patients/387421/

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