Guardian Angels' at Taiwan Village Help Those with Dementia Age in Place

In Pingxi District, many business owners are part of a network to help dementia patients. The area is home to the largest proportion of elderly residents in Taiwan.

- Yip Wai Yee

At the Wen Chuan grocery store in Taiwan's rural Pingxi District, customers are welcome to return any purchases at no extra charge, even perishable goods such as spring onions and garlic.

But only if the customers are people with dementia.

Shopkeeper Lee Wen-chuan came up with this service three years ago, when he started to better understand how to interact with people with the condition.

"We would have elderly customers come in and buy the same food item four times a day, and then they would forget to cook it," the 66-year-old told me during a recent visit.

"So this was one small way that I thought we could help them, or both their money and food would go to waste."

Mr Lee is a so-called "guardian angel", trained by the local government to assist people with dementia – an umbrella term for symptoms affecting memory, thinking and the ability to perform daily activities. While there is no cure for dementia, medication and other treatments can help with symptoms.

Mr Lee is among the 60 per cent of business owners in Pingxi in New Taipei – a mountainous region 30km outside of Taipei – who volunteer for training to be part of a network of guardian angels to help make the community a safer and happier place for people with dementia to live in.

Other angels, for instance, provide the elderly with resting spaces in their shops. One fruit seller keeps extra copies of seniors' house keys, in case they forget to bring theirs out.

Dr Liao Kuang-yu, director of the Pingxi District Public Health Centre, who works closely with dementia patients there, said that the unique system allows seniors to age in place, instead of moving into an assisted living facility.

"That's what most seniors wish to do – to grow old in a place that they are familiar with. So the local government has created a system to help those who are living with dementia to be able to do just that," he told me.