The Lantern of Chagrin Valley in Chagrin Falls, Ohio, is one of only three facilities designed for Alzheimer’s and dementia patients.
Designed to look like small houses with porches leading out to a golf course, the living facility feels like a community in the 1940s.
With incredible attention to detail, including paint schemes reminiscent of the time period, Lantern is incredibly unique.
Using special fiber optics in the ceiling, the facility recreates daylight and starry sky atmosphere in the building. The floors of the facility are painted green to represent the grass, and an array of sound effects such as bird chirps are played throughout. In fact, one reporter noted that entering the facility “is like walking outside.”
“Every little thing you see, the wall color, the paint, actually has a therapeutic benefit, a therapeutic value,” CEO Jean Makesh told the News-Herald (via Business Insider).
As a trained occupational therapist, Makesh has created the perfect environment for these special patients.
In an interview with Cleveland.com, he stated:
“My clients drive my vision. They inspire me.”
Makesh is quick to note that he did not design the facility based off an existing model nor was he informed by a consultant. Instead, he came up with the idea as a result of his own personal observation of his clients. He explains:
“As they go through the stages of disease, they revert back to their early childhood days […] They are going back in time. It doesnt make any sense building a facility that looks like a hotel or an institution – rather create an environment, a space, that they can relate to.”
This is why the Lantern of Chagrin Valley is designed to look like a neighborhood from the 1930s or 1940s.
After learning how controlled environments can lead to major reductions in anxiety, anger, and depression, Makesh decided to also incorporate these ideas into his constructive living experience.
“The decor and layouts of the Chagrin Valley, Saybrook, and Madison facilities are reminiscent of childhood, a simpler time for residents,” said Makesh.
“Evoking these feelings puts them at ease and reduces the anxiety and agitation that is often present with dementia sufferers.”
Moreover, Lantern provides residents with an assortment of daily classes to help them re-learn and retain basic skills and functions.
“I take them back to those memories. I create a time capsule. It enables them to embrace everything around them,” Makesh told reporters.
Makesh hopes that his contributions in rehabilitation for these patients afflicted with Alzheimer’s and dementia will produce a large amount of positive change.
Using this controlled setting, Makesh believes he will be able to slow the progression of similar diseases on a long-term scale
With this incredible facility that recreates the feel and experiences these special patients may have once lived, Makesh is bringing new hope to challenging age-related diseases.
Learn more about how this unique facility was created in the video below!
Please SHARE this with your friends and family.
Source: YouTube – Svayus, Business Insider
