00:08This community center is where people living with dementia
00:11in one small Taiwan village come to spend their days.
00:20They are residents of Pingxi,
00:23a rural district nestled in the mountains of northern Taiwan.
00:38Many know it as a popular tourist destination,
00:42where people come to send off sky lanterns.
00:44But look past the lantern shops and you'll notice something else.
00:49More than 35% of Pingxi's residents are over 65,
00:54or one in every three people,
00:56making it the oldest district by percentage of elderly residents in all of Taiwan.
01:02With few job opportunities, most of its young people have moved away.
01:07Currently, around 80 of those residents have dementia,
01:10an incurable neurological condition that causes gradual cognitive decline.
01:37Wang Chenyingzhi is one of Pingxi's residents with dementia.
01:41It can make her forgetful, and she's afraid of the symptoms getting worse.
01:46Still, she's able to go on with her life,
01:49spending most of her days at the district's dementia center,
01:52and in the afternoons, venturing to a nearby pavilion to chat with friends.
01:57I've been here 23 years.
02:01Later, I was here, and I was here with thekannt Karls again.
02:06You're still here?
02:07I'm here, and I've been here last year, and I've been here last year.
02:11And I'd say we don't care,
02:13because there's so much home,
02:15and there's so much home, home and home and beyond,
02:18so that's fine.
02:20And not many people on the mountain,
02:22we actually just support.
02:24and other Pingxi residents living with dementia
02:32are able to live comfortably here
02:35because of a unique network of care
02:37that involves not just its dementia center,
02:40but virtually every part of society.
02:43Together, the community has turned Pingxi
02:46into a dementia village,
02:48one of just a few in the world.
02:50And they say the first to have formed organically
02:54around where people with dementia already live
02:57rather than being purpose-built.
03:12Efforts largely began here,
03:15at Pingxi's local health center.
03:18Around 2017, they started testing everyone in the community
03:22that was over 65 for dementia,
03:24around the same time that Taiwan's national government
03:27began pushing dementia care.
03:55For those showing serious symptoms,
03:58the center worked with a larger hospital
04:00to make the process of getting a formal diagnosis easier.
04:04And because transportation in Pingxi is limited,
04:07the nearest hospital almost an hour away,
04:11they started driving people to appointments.
04:37This group of residents and their family members
04:39are on their way to the hospital.
04:41Some already diagnosed with dementia
04:44and returning for checkups,
04:46and others being tested for the first time.
04:57Screening for dementia involves several different tests,
05:01and ordinarily would require multiple trips to the hospital.
05:05But for Pingxi residents,
05:07the process is streamlined.
05:08They're in and out in one trip.
05:11This group of residents,
05:14the67al emotional learning
05:15We need to get rid of these things.
05:18The best way is to take a job.
05:22If you want to take a job,
05:25we need to get rid of it.
05:27We need to get rid of it.
05:30We need to get rid of it.
05:37We need to get rid of it.
05:42We need to get rid of it.
05:45We need to get rid of it.
05:47We need to get rid of it.
05:49We need to get rid of it.
05:51We have to get rid of it.
05:55Making testing easier means more people will get tested.
05:59For dementia, doctors say that's important.
06:03So it's about 10 years of age.
06:08If we want to get rid of it quickly,
06:10to get rid of it, to find the cause of it.
06:13At this time, it's a chance to prevent it to prevent it.
06:18It's a chance to prevent it from going back.
06:22Pingxi has also focused on education,
06:26working to inform everyone in the community
06:28about dementia and its effects, even its youngest.
06:52This elementary school teaches its students about dementia,
06:56things like warning signs to look out for,
06:59and how the condition affects the brain.
07:01Why are we older?
07:04Why are we older?
07:05Why are we older?
07:06Why are we older?
07:08Because...
07:09Students share ideas about what their school could do
07:12to help community members with dementia.
07:15If we take a class or have a chance,
07:18we can get them into the hospital.
07:20And then, we want to go to school.
07:24And then, we want to go to school for our kids.
07:28We want to go to school for our kids.
07:32We want to go to school for our kids,
07:34We want to go to school for minority people.
07:35The hope is that they can apply this knowledge
07:37to their everyday lives.
07:40A child can put up that knowledge and attitude
07:44and attitude to their family.
07:45For example, a child will find that
07:48at the university, they were going to find the couple of diseases.
07:49My grandmother and grandma has 3 or 4 different.
07:51And you can quickly say this to dad and grandma
07:55to be assessed.
07:57This is part of a broader push throughout the community to better understand this condition,
08:03so that people can help care for their neighbors, family members and friends.
08:39Now, virtually every part of society plays a role, including police, trash truck drivers and firefighters.
08:48In the cleaners, when this young man didn't get out of the trash,
08:54do you want to take care of him?
08:55Is he really not at home? Is he still alive? Is he still alive? Is he still alive? Is he
08:59still alive? Is he still alive?
09:00Is he still alive? Is he still alive? Is he still alive? Is he still alive? Is he still alive?
09:05This situation, even the police have a character.
09:07He will have a巡邏.
09:10We also have a young man in the middle of the night.
09:12If he has a巡邏, he is also a killer.
09:18Pingxi's district executive even repaved this street to make it more level,
09:23easier for older people to walk on.
09:26And along these streets, shopkeepers keep an eye out for residents with dementia
09:31or older people who might need help.
09:36This shopkeeper keeps a copy of his elderly neighbor's keys in case they forget them at home.
09:51And over at the dementia center, set up by a Taiwanese charity foundation,
09:56residents find activities to participate in and ways to socialize,
10:00for as little as around $1 a day.
10:03The rest paid for by government subsidies.
10:06This 96-year-old resident comes here most days.
10:10We are very happy to come here.
10:13We are here to open the doors, open the doors, speak the doors, hear the stories.
10:21We are here to see the people.
10:25She's eager to share what she's learned here.
10:30She's eager to share what she's learned here.
10:39The center also works to help put their family members at ease,
10:43many of whom have moved away.
11:09It's also a goal of the dementia village as a whole, to care not just for those living
11:15with dementia, but also their families, who are often deeply affected.
11:20This resident, who requested not to be identified, cares for her brother-in-law with dementia.
11:26He needs to be watched virtually 24-7, which was hard.
11:30Things have gotten better since the health center started to make home visits.
11:34She said they give her much-needed breaks.
11:45If there are any problems, you can always tell me.
11:48Yes.
11:49Then I found out that they don't only take care of the case, but also take care of our family.
11:58Another resident, Li Wenquan, helps care for his mother with dementia.
12:03He and his son have done so for many years.
12:07Hi, my mother.
12:08Hi, my mother.
12:10Come on.
12:11Hi.
12:12Hi, my mother.
12:12I'm going to go to the hospital.
12:15My mother would hear a shout-out.
12:19I feel that's a little bit of a shock.
12:21Why?
12:22Because I know she's always a little bit of a shout-out.
12:26Look, I'm going to go to the hospital.
12:27My mother, come on.
12:29I'm going to go.
12:31You're tired.
12:31You're tired.
12:32You're tired.
12:39Over time, the family has watched her condition deteriorate more and more.
12:45It weighs on them.
13:26So, for this family, the pain of witnessing the deterioration dementia causes has been
13:33drawn out over years, with no end in sight.
13:37But even as he bears the weight of his own mother's care, Lee also finds ways to care
13:43for others in the community living with the condition.
13:48One older woman frequently comes to his shop to buy the same products over and over again,
13:54forgetting she'd already purchased them.
13:56He gets in touch with her family members and allows them to bring the products back for
14:08a refund.
14:10More recently, Pingxi has also been focused on what can be done before cognitive decline
14:16really begins, talking to residents about making end-of-life medical decisions ahead of time.
14:51All of this work.
14:52work, they say, serves not just residents currently living with dementia, but also all those in
14:58the community who will grow old in the future, including themselves.
15:20In these ways, Pingxi is paving its own unique path in dementia care.
15:26Anchored in a kindness that can be felt deeply here.
15:30A sense of responsibility that everyone in this community has to do their part to care for the
15:36people around them.
15:37It's something many feel other parts of Taiwan can learn from.
15:42Last year, Taiwan became a super-aged society, meaning over 20% of its population is 65 or older.
15:51And according to the most recent numbers from 2024, around 8% of them have been diagnosed with dementia.
15:59As the country continues to age, this number will only grow.
16:04Meaning Pingxi is not the only place where effective dementia care is urgent.
16:18New Taipei City, where Pingxi is located, has been working to use Pingxi as a model for its
16:24other 28 districts to build similar networks of care in those communities.
16:29Because you also need to practice friendly residents.
16:33You also need to create friendly environment.
16:37The old people, whether they live in Pingxi, or live inćťżć©‹,
16:41every day, the old people's life is the same.
16:46Only this environment is not the same.
16:48But their模式 is the same.
16:50So we use this模式 to create a different environment.
17:05Many in Pingxi say that replicating them exactly would be difficult.
17:11But they hope that other areas can learn from and build upon their experience,
17:16and adapt it in ways that work best for them.
17:19Every place, every place, every place, through a while,
17:23you can see that you can dig into the best of your own space.
17:27So I think that everyone through both learning and learning and study,
17:34we can definitely create a best of your own space in the various places.
17:40It's a kind of a way of coaching.
17:43It's about a way to what you are doing.
17:44Whether you are a part of your company or your personal life,
17:48you need to do the training in a way.
17:53It is not a problem.
17:57We teach some knowledge,
18:00and also more detail about your goals.
18:04I think that these kids have a lot of experience for yourself.
18:24So as Taiwan ages,
18:28Pingxi planting a seed
18:30that somehow may bloom across the country
18:33in rural mountain towns and big cities alike.
18:37In each area, the details perhaps different,
18:40but the goal the same.
18:42That people living with dementia
18:44can find kindness and care across Taiwan,
18:48wherever they may be.
18:50Ain Wang, John Su, Pichi Zhuang,
18:53and Keynes Quaranta for Taiwan Plus.
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