Great products make PEOPLE better
Hogeweyk Dementia Village in the Netherlands, an example that fills me with joy and hope for what can be.
I’ve worked in tech most of my career. I love the pace, the energy, the creativity and the “f-it we’ll figure it out” spirit. It’s a problem-solvers paradise. I’ve seen tech work as an extender and amplifier. I’ve seen it enable the growth of community, understanding, and connection. Not that technology is a panacea or even the right solution to many problems. Unfortunately, it’s also great at fueling FOMO and spreading misinformation. But, as a product person, I fundamentally believe in Kathy Sierra’s philosophy that great products make people better.
As I dig into AgeTech and the Longevity ecosystem, that’s what I’m focusing on and looking to highlight, amplify and share – great products, companies, organizations, services and solutions that make PEOPLE better. Since most things are “tech-enabled” these days, I also think of tech quite broadly. It’s not just a device, a wearable, an app, or a website, but rather a nearly ubiquitous part of most of our daily lives.
When it comes to making people better, in this context, I roughly define “better” as things that help us stay healthier longer, maintain our autonomy, agency, and dignity, stay socially connected, continue to meaningfully contribute to and engage in our communities, workplaces, family and civic life, and be in a position to comfortably and confidently afford a lifespan that may extend beyond 100 years. When it comes to “great products” an example that fills me with joy and hope is Hogeweyk Dementia Village in the Netherlands.
I love that Hogeweck describes themselves as offering a “normal life for people living with severe dementia”. That shouldn’t be revolutionary, but given that care for those with dementia has largely been medicalized in the US, medical, legal and economic needs frequently trump human needs here. Hogeweyk, on the other hand, is a place you’d actually want to live and work.
“Everyone is dressed in street clothes: no scrubs, no hospital gowns. The staff are trained not to think of themselves as authority figures who correct behavior and treat symptoms, but to accept residents as they are and work to ensure their happiness…Instead of one big facility, it’s a village: a neighborhood of homes, stores, cafes, streets, alleys and parks. Everyone living there has advanced dementia, which means they can no longer live at home alone. And they’re meant to live at the Hogeweyk until they die. But the Hogeweyk does not look or feel like a place of sickness and death. It feels normal.” (Source: 99% Invisible, Model Village episode)
It’s not crazy expensive. They receive the same budget per resident as any other skilled nursing home offering this kind of dementia care in the Netherlands. From a clinical perspective, residents seem to need less medication than their peers in more standard “dementia facilities”, eg. one in four nursing home residents with dementia is on antipsychotics in the Netherlands. At the Hogeweyk, that number is just one in ten. Given what a problem staff turnover is in this space, working at Hogeweyk actually seems like it would be…pleasant. Although I don’t have hard numbers to share, I’d guess their turnover is lower than in other, more medicalized care facilities.
It’s ironic that in the case of Hogeweck “normal” is better. But the shift in mindset and the creativity required to prioritize normal over medical is no small thing. I would argue that mindset, creativity and flexibility are some of the most critical underpinnings required to fuel the development of solutions that make PEOPLE better and bring out the best in all of us. It’s not always the easiest path, but in my mind it’s definitely one worth prioritizing, especially when you think about the type of experiences you’d like to have for yourself as you age.
I’d love to hear from you. What are AgeTech or Longevity solutions you’ve seen or heard about that seem like “great products that make PEOPLE better”?
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