Fake Bus Stop Prevents Alzheimer's Patients from Running Away

Posted by Alex in Medicine on June 7, 2008 at 11:42 am


A German nursing home got tired of having to call on the police to retrieve Alzheimer’s patients who ran away (to their often non-existent homes and families), so they came upon a brilliant idea: install a fake bus stop outside!

"It sounds funny but it helps," said Franz-Josef Goebel, the chairman of the "Old Lions" association.

"Our members are 84 years old on average. Their short-term memory hardly works, but the long-term memory is still active.

"They know the green and yellow bus sign and remember that waiting there means they will go home."

The result is that errant patients now wait for their trip home at the bus stop, before quickly forgetting why they were there in the first place.

"We will approach them and say that the bus is coming later and invite them in for a coffee," said Richard Neureither, Benrath’s director. "Five minutes later they have completely forgotten they wanted to leave."

Link


Previous post
this post? Please Email this               
Next post


FUN PRODUCTS FROM THE NEATORAMA SHOP:


COMMENT

7 comments to "Fake Bus Stop Prevents Alzheimer's Patients from Running Away"

  1. Corey Ellis
    June 7th, 2008 at 11:59 am

    first!

  2. CheeseDuck
    June 7th, 2008 at 1:15 pm

    What was that article about again? And don't say first, douche.

  3. Sheldon
    June 7th, 2008 at 1:54 pm

    That's a good idea. My grandfather had Alzheimer's and tried running away many times. After he learned that there was no bus stop or taxi pickup nearby, he tried walking as far as he could. Something like this should be almost necessary.

  4. ted
    June 7th, 2008 at 2:03 pm

    Yeah, Corey Ellis. Nobody cares.

    Sounds like an excellent idea, if it really works. I wonder, though, how many non-Alzheimer's patients have been duped by it.

  5. DOJ
    June 7th, 2008 at 8:23 pm

    heh ted, thats a great visual

  6. tomtheman5
    June 8th, 2008 at 12:13 am

    So sad, really...

  7. Thomas
    June 8th, 2008 at 12:37 pm

    I'm, amazed that works. Then again the mental institution that my friend works at has a fire extinguisher labeled "crazy purple knock out gas." Violent incidents went down after they introduced that.


PLEASE LEAVE A COMMENT

Neatorama Comment Policy
You don't have to register or login to comment, but it's easier if you do so. Comments aren't censored, but those that are abusive or off-topic may be edited or deleted.


Stay updated on the comments with Comment RSS