Familiarity, Autonomy, and Safety Together (FAST): A program for adults with dementia and their caregivers
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.21900/j.jloe.v3.1190Keywords:
programming, public libraries, dementia, Alzheimer's, caregiversAbstract
Almost 50 million people worldwide are currently living with dementia, with approximately half a million and six million of those people living in Canada and the United States, respectively. Familiarity, Autonomy, and Safety Together (FAST) is a program idea for adults living with dementia and their family caregivers that draws upon the ideas of familiarity, autonomy, and safety that underlie dementia villages, a recent development in residential care facilities for people living with dementia. FAST uses themed stations that emphasize familiarity and which program participants living with dementia can move about and participate in at will, providing an often lost sense of autonomy. At the same time, caregivers, who often suffer from burnout and related problems, are provided an opportunity to socialize with each other and receive education and support. In this way, people living with dementia and their caregivers can independently benefit from the FAST program. Further, many libraries will be able to provide the FAST program at little or no cost to the library, and a modified version of the FAST program can be brought to patrons in other locations, such as a residential care facility.
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