NEW YORK (AP) Just after 10 p.m., when most people their age are going to sleep, a group of elderly folks suffering from dementia are just getting started, dancing and shaking tambourines and maracas in a raucous version of "La Bamba."

"It's a party," says an 81-year-old woman, among dozens of patients brought to a Bronx nursing home every night for a structured series of singalongs, crafts and therapy sessions that lasts until dawn.

The program, which appears to be rare, is kind of a "night camp" for dementia victims who don't sleep at night or tend to wake up agitated or become frightened or disoriented by the fall of darkness.

It's meant to provide care and activity lots of activity to fill the wee hours for people with Alzheimer's and similar diseases who live at home. And it's meant to provide their caregivers usually a son or daughter with a treasured night's sleep.

"Without this program, my father would be lost, and I would be crazy," said Robert Garcia, whose 82-year-old father, Felix, is in the program at the Hebrew Home at Riverdale called ElderServe at Night. "He doesn't sleep. At night he's wide awake, and he needs activity."

Garcia, who lives in a Bronx apartment with his wife and three of their children, said that before his father went into the program he would wake up in the night, loudly, and keep everyone else from sleeping.

"We would all wake up, and my daughter would ask, 'Why is Grandpa screaming? Why is he so grumpy?'" Garcia said.

"Now he comes home in the morning, shows me his drawings, tells me what they did all night."

While many nursing homes offer temporary "respite care" so caregivers can catch up on sleep or go on vacation, the overnight-only program at the Hebrew Home fills a niche.

But costs are high, and such programs are rare. An official at the Alzheimer's Association said she knew of no other.

Excerpt from:
Overnight dementia 'camp' allows caregivers rest