Settings of Connection

It is notoriously difficult to connect once people are in the grip of Alzheimer’s disease. Through extensive trials at Vitalis 't Vonderhof', a home for the elderly, Sanne Ree Barthels found that familiar settings linked to basic activities could help. During her research, she developed three mobile ‘interview units’, from a mini-kitchen for making apple pie, to a rollator bench with knitting supplies, and a seat with a hooded hairdryer. Each caters to different degrees of the disease and they can be witnessed in action in a series of filmed sessions with Alzheimer’s patients. “An intimate physical space accomplished more than verbal communication alone,” she says.