Peter Moody always starts his day with a cup of coffee. He then laces up his white Reeboks and heads out the front door for a run. Moody might jog past his neighbour, Bob Beauchamp, walking his black-and-white dog, Lucy. He might pass another resident on their way to buy a few groceries or others sitting on a bench in front of their cottages, enjoying the sunshine. Later in the day, Moody might visit the community centre to listen to music or watch a movie. Or he might go on another jog.
It’s an unremarkable scene, really, except that each of the community’s forty-five current residents lives with some form of dementia: the syndrome where memory and the ability to perform everyday activities progressively deteriorate. The Village, located in Langley, BC, opened its doors last August, making it the first dementia-care facility in Canada that does not identify as a hospital or a care home but a whole town. There’s the community centre, which houses a general store and a hair salon. Residents live in six single-storey cottages, each painted a different colour, with white picket fences. There’s a well-tended communal garden. Tall evergreen trees line the Village’s picturesque perimeter, as does a two-and-a-half-metre-tall fence, built so residents can wander the grounds independently without straying too far from staff.
This story is from the May 2020 edition of The Walrus.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 8,500+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber ? Sign In
This story is from the May 2020 edition of The Walrus.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 8,500+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber? Sign In
Invisible Lives
Without immigration status, Canada's undocumented youth stay in the shadows
My Guilty Pleasure
"The late nights are mine alone, and I'll spend them however I damn well please"
Vaclav Smil Is Fed Up
The acclaimed environmental scientist is criticizing climate activists, shunning media, and stepping back just when we need him most
It's Time for a Birth Control Revolution
What the pill teaches us about the failure - and future - of women's health care
Would You Watch a Play about Hydro Electricity?
How documentary theatre struck a chord in Quebec
Still Spinning
One record chain has bet big on a new appetite for physical media
Just So You Know, I Love My Mother
In many ways, multi-generational living makes sense. But that doesn't make it easy
Art of the Steal
Why are plundered African artifacts still in Western museums?
Canada in the Middle
What role can we play in easing the war in Gaza?
Canadian Multiculturalism: A Work in Progress
As we mark fifty years since the adoption of Canada’s federal multiculturalism policy, human rights advocate AMIRA ELGHAWABY celebrates its merits and reflects on the work that is yet to be done when it comes to inclusion, acceptance, and fighting systemic racism in our country.