How Art Is Helping Doctors and Caregivers Better Understand People With Dementia

Dalhousie University artist Mark Gilbert and Dalhousie Professor Kenneth Rockwood are investigating how painting portraits of people with dementia can help gain a better understanding of their condition, reports CBC News . "Done properly, art can help people with dementia and can help even the caregivers, including the formal caregivers, the healthcare professionals, to do a better job of caring, to better understand the care recipient's perspective," Rockwood says. The collaboration follows the artist-in-residence program at the memory clinic at Halifax's QEII Health Sciences Center. Rockwood thinks artists can be "independent, second eyes," and see things in people with disorders such as Alzheimer's that doctors may have overlooked. "These portraits will live hopefully way beyond any of us, and so there is that potential that pictures continue to communicate to future audiences, allowing them to reflect on their own experiences and gain access into the experiences of others," Gilbert says.