Gisele Boepple

Alzheimer's Disease Gisele Boepple

Alzheimer's is a progressive disease, where dementia symptoms gradually worsen over several years. In its early stages, memory loss is mild, but with late-stage Alzheimer's, individuals lose the ability to carry on a conversation and respond to their environment. By 2050, nearly 115 million people in the world will have Alzheimer's or some other form of dementia. But when our memories fade, what do we become - a shadow of our old selves or somebody new? After losing her grandmother to Alzheimer's, writer Anu Silfverberg travels to see the future of dementia care. In the Netherlands, a new kind of care home lets patients live in their past. Here you'll find gated gardens and a pub for the demented, along with a stylized class system designed by a team of consultants. A surprise lesson: dementia isn't a walking death after all. It's another way of living.