What I learned from living alongside people with dementia

A nurse says that his new housemates have taught him systems must change – to see those living with dementia as people, not patients

At the age of 21, I moved into the closed ward of a nursing home to begin living alongside people with dementia. I made this choice because I worry a lot about the future of these people, who are often forgotten by us as a society. Now, three years later, I am still learning from my housemates on a daily basis — something that I increasingly lost during my nursing studies — to see people with dementia as human beings just like you and me.