The Dementia Collective #51 is Live!

This episode can be found HERE

What if the biggest problem with dementia care is not dementia, but the way we have designed care around it?

In this episode, Andrew Karesa sits down with Eloy van Hal, co-founder of the Hogeweyk and senior managing advisor with Be Advice, to explore how one of the world’s most recognized approaches to dementia care grew from a traditional institutional nursing home into a neighbourhood built around normal life, autonomy, relationships, and personhood.

Often described as the world’s first “dementia village,” the Hogeweyk began transforming dementia care more than 30 years ago.

Together, Andrew and Eloy challenge conventional ideas about safety, locked doors, risk, independence, and what people living with dementia should be allowed to do. Eloy explains why everyday experiences like cooking with a knife, shopping for groceries, walking outside, meeting strangers, and choosing how to spend the day matter. He also shares why, if he were starting again today, he might not build a dementia village at all.

Eloy also reflects on his own experience supporting his mother, who is living with dementia, and how being a family caregiver has shaped his perspective after decades of working professionally in dementia care.

In this episode:

• How the Hogeweyk evolved from a traditional nursing home

• Why Eloy dislikes the term “dementia village”

• Why dementia care needs to rethink risk and safety

• Whether people living with dementia should be free to leave

• How small group homes and shared lifestyles create comfort

• Why everyday interactions and community matter

• What Eloy has learned caring for his own mother

• Why leadership is essential to changing dementia care

• What Eloy would do differently if building the Hogeweyk today

This is a conversation about dementia care, autonomy, dignity, risk, community, leadership, and a simple idea that people living with dementia should be seen people first

Learn more at:
⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.bluebellvillage.ca⁠⁠⁠⁠
https://www.bethecareconcept.com/en/
https://hogeweyk.dementiavillage.com/

Join 'The Village' on Patreon

If you believe in what we are building, I’m inviting you to stand with us. For only $5 per month (less than a Starbucks coffee), you can help us grow this movement, reach more families, and continue breaking the stigma around dementia care.

Your support truly makes a difference.

Village Members receive:

• Early access to new episodes

• The ability to submit questions for upcoming guests

• Occasional behind the scenes updates or voice memos from the host

• Optional name listing on our website’s “Thank You Wall”

This work cannot be done alone. Every conversation, every story, and every episode helps shift how the world understands dementia. Your five dollars directly strengthens that impact.

Join The Village HERE and help us bring more voices, more stories, and more hope to caregivers everywhere.

Caregiving comes with a hundred small decisions a day. Today's sponsor, Eugeria takes the guesswork out of at least one of them, finding products you can actually trust. Looking for a way to help your loved one stay independent at home for longer? Eugeria carries a range of products designed to support daily routine and autonomy. This week, they're featuring the Idem Digital Dementia Clock. Discover more at Eugeria.care

Don’t Forget to Sign Up for blueBell Connect

blueBell Connect, our patent-pending dementia caregiving tool, is available for caregivers to sign up. 

blueBell Connect provides caregivers clinically valid, personally specific and culturally appropriate support recommendations in your daily care for individuals living with dementia. 

Click HERE for a blueBell Connect brochure

For more information, check out bluebellconnect.ca or email [email protected]

Click HERE to sign up