b3e249cbefede69b034aba27d0da6324
Subscribe today
© 2025 The Weekly SOURCE

The gnarly problem of dementia in retirement villages

2 min read

Dementia is no longer hidden in retirement villages. It is in plain sight for residents and Village Managers alike – and the question now is: will operators open their eyes, or continue to bury their heads in the sand? 

The latest edition of SATURDAY laid out the scale of the challenge across retirement living, home care, and aged care. Today’s story on Queensland residents’ concerns at an ARQRV meeting brings it into even sharper focus.  

Their accounts are confronting: neighbours wandering at night, couples with no family support, hospitals wanting to discharge residents into residential aged care but facing resistance from partners and families. “Dementia is galloping,” one resident warned. 

And they’re right. Residents are struggling, often in silence, to live alongside friends and neighbours who clearly need more support than a retirement village can offer, but don’t – or can’t – move onto higher care. 

The dementia vacuum 

From the Village Manager’s perspective – which we hear daily through our DCM Institute professional development program – the reality is just as stark.  

Managers feel helpless as residents withdraw, refuse assessments, or simply deny the problem. They can’t move people on, because there’s nowhere to move them to, and they have no legal footing to act.  

That leaves a vacuum where safety concerns grow, where neighbours worry about accidents, and where staff carry the burden of responsibility without the tools to manage it. 

And yet behind every story is a person – a human being facing the unknown. From a human point of view, surely operators must acknowledge the problem and adopt a responsible strategy for care. Ignoring it is not an option. 

This issue is not going away 

Some operators are beginning to lead. Keyton, for example, has made dementia awareness and training a core part of its village management strategy. That’s a start. 

But the sector needs more investment in training, more honest conversations with residents and families, and clearer frameworks that balance independence with safety. 

Because as the Queensland residents concluded, dementia is not going away. It will only become more visible, more complex, and more urgent.  

The question is whether the sector is prepared to face it – or whether it will be left scrambling as the problem overtakes it. 


Top Stories
You might also like