Would you recommend ‘Dementiaville’ for LTC planning?

Long-term care (LTC) planning is one of the most sensitive areas of advice to give to a client, particularly where Alzheimers is concerned.

People with Alzheimers in some cases lose their short-term memory and revert back to their long-term memories, believing they are still living in that period.

But is it right to encourage Alzheimers suffers in that belief?

In Switzerland, a debate is raging over that very issue. A new retirement village for Alzheimers sufferers is being build near Bern which will purposefully recreate a classic 1950s village.

However, the illusion at this village goes even further.

Carers working in the £17m sheltered accommodation village will be disguised as gardeners, hairdressers and shop assistants in order to trick residents into believing they are living independently.

The Independent reports that residents will not be allowed to leave the village of 23 houses, presumably for their own safety and to preserve the pretense.

Switzerland, like the UK, is facing an LTC crisis, made particularly acute by mental health issues and a lack of funding for care.

There are around 107,000 elderly people in Switzerland living with mental illness, and the figure is expected to double in the next 20 years as the older population booms.

But is faking normality the answer? Could you recommend a village like this to a client as part of their LTC planning?