catching_the_bus_that_never_comes cr0wl There’s a common problem with Alzheimer’s and Dementia patients all over the world. They get disoriented. They wander off. Lost in their memories, they amble the world. But sometimes, in their wandering, they can end up too far from home, frightened, or hurt. So what are you supposed to do if your loved one–a parent, a grandparent–begins to wander in this way? Often times the only solution is to lock them up. Which just feels cruel. But what else are you supposed to do if you want to keep them safe? Well, a nursing home in Düsseldorf, Germany, called the Benrath Senior Center, came up with a new idea. An idea so simple you almost think it couldn’t work. They built a bus stop in front of the center, but no bus ever comes. If the patient escapes, and tries to catch a bus back to where their memories are calling them, as they are waiting they often lose the desire to leave and then return calmly to the center. Sometimes all an anxious patient requires is to be taken by a caretaker to the bus stop. it's all they need to find peace. 100329 ... unhinged and sometimes when you are waiting for the bus the very last person you want to see (but the person you were just thinking about) pulls up to the busstop in their truck honking for you to get in this_is_really_happening it was like i willed him to be there and just today i was talking to myself about him and the phone rang it was him 100329 what's it to you? who go blather from