- People with dementia may need some extra care, but many still want to work and have social lives.
- Henriette Bringsjord’s parents started Impulssenter, a farm where they can do just that.
- The farm acts as a sort of day care, providing relief to at-home caretakers.
Henriette Bringsjord grew up on a farm outside Oslo and spent her childhood raising chickens, harvesting eggs, and feeding cows. But 20 years ago, after her parents noticed how hard it was for people with dementia to work a normal job and enjoy a normal social life, they repurposed the farm as a “care farm.”
Now, it’s called “Impulssenter,” a place where people diagnosed with dementia can live and tap into their impulses to work, socialize, and “be a part of life again,” Bringsjord, who’s since taken over the farm from her parents, said.
Instead of centering their identity on being a person who needs care, her goal is to give the farmers — “caretakers,” she calls them — something that they can care for by assigning them simple tasks on the farm and creating an environment where they can enjoy being among nature and each other. While the farm doesn’t replace full-time care, it functions as a sort of day care — offering part-time relief to at-home caregivers.
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