This Assisted Living Facility in Gurgaon Makes Sure That Elders With Dementia Live Life To The Fullest

 A two-hour noon celebration was organized by Epoch Elder Care’s employees to be a "high-impact" activity for dementia residents. 

The clinical psychologist and dementia expert spoke about the mouthwatering "Maharashtrian lunch" she and her crew had prepared for the residents of Epoch Elder Care, an assisted living in Gurugram.

"They might not even remember this later, but at least they enjoyed the moment." Neha Sinha says over the phone, with a hint of sadness.

Two hours was Epoch's ambitious estimate of the attention span of their older dementia residents, only if the scheduled activities were interesting and engaging.

As a result, the male attendants wore tilaks, while the female attendants, who were dressed in saris and matching jewellery, had their hair put in a bun and accessorised with a string of mogras.

They played some upbeat Lavani music and displayed vibrant posters on the party scene's walls.

The in-house F&B manager created the menu and prepared the meal with assistance from the Epoch team in Pune over the course of a few days to fully capture the Konkani feel.

Tables heaped high with traditional and delectable Maharashtrian appetisers like kokum sharbat, koshimbir, boondi raita, vada pao, bharli vangi (vegetable curry), dosa bhaji, chicken kolhapuri, amti daal, masala bhaat (rice), bhakri and beetroot poori, well as mango mastani, besan ladoo, puran poli, and pineapple sheera traditional sweets.

The luxurious assisted living Gurgaon is roomy flats inside gated communities with a maximum of 15 inhabitants each, "so it feels like a home and not a nursing home," adds Sinha. They also have a 24/7 medical and housekeeping staff.

For a person-centred service that involves caring for nutrition, medications, food, and constant attention because dementia sufferers cannot be left alone for even a short time, the residents' families pay over Rs 2.5 lakh per month.

Our inhabitants are senior people who can participate actively, not young people. All of these elderly, wheelchair-bound individuals have dementia and are over 80 years old.

We celebrated Punjabi cuisine last time, and we all dressed in traditional Punjabi outfits, recalls Sinha, who was named one of Forbes' 30 Under 30 Asia in 2016.

She worked as a counsellor at the Sanjivini Society for Mental Health in Janpura, New Delhi, for three years before receiving training in the philosophy of palliative care from Sophiahemmet University in Sweden. After that, the startup looked to be a logical step after her academic path.

Even if it's only for two hours, Sinha ensures the residents feel refreshed by being engaged in such tumultuous activities. We need to wrap things up by 3 p.m. because they start to feel sleepy and stop responding, and many of them take naps at that time. But at least they relished the occasion," she adds.