How Clearwater Living’s Jill Zimmerman found inspiration at the world’s first dementia village and what it means for memory support today.
The morning sun in Weesp, a quiet town outside Amsterdam, casts a soft glow across cobblestoned streets. In the center of the village, a fountain rises, grand, playful, shimmering in the light. For most visitors, it is a simple detail, a moment of beauty. For Jill Zimmerman, Clearwater Living’s Director of Resident Engagement and Wellbeing, it became a lesson.
“When I first saw the fountain, my instinct was to ask, has anyone ever gotten in the fountain?” she recalls. “And Eloy, one of the village’s co-founders, turned the question back to another participant. ‘Mike, what do you see?’ And he simply said, ‘A pretty fountain.’ That’s when it hit me. So often, our first impulse is caution, limitation. But here, the philosophy is trust. People living with dementia are inherently trusted.”
The philosophy of trust over restriction and autonomy over assumption, is the heartbeat of The Hogeweyk, the world’s first “dementia village.” Designed to look and feel like a small Dutch town, it is both supportive and profoundly liberating. Residents stroll cobbled walkways, browse shelves in the grocery store, share meals at restaurants, paint in studios, and attend clubs alongside neighbors who share their backgrounds and interests. Around 10:30 each morning, the village hums to life, not with imposed schedules, but with choices. What to eat, who to see, how to spend the day.
For Jill, who was thrilled to embrace this learning opportunity with the support of Clearwater Living’s CEO, Danielle Morgan, the experience was both an affirmation and a source of fresh inspiration. It reinforced Clearwater’s belief that people living with dementia thrive when they are trusted with freedom and choice, supported in an environment that balances support and care with autonomy.
Rethinking Dementia Care: Breaking Old Assumptions
“As a culture, we don’t trust people with dementia,” Jill says, reflecting on Eloy’s words. “We assume they need us to do everything for them instead of with them. But the more we do for them, the less they can do for themselves.”
It was a profound reminder that the smallest details, the clink of cutlery at a family table, the satisfaction of folding laundry, the independence of choosing a sweater in the morning, are not trivial. They are the threads of autonomy, identity, and daily wellbeing. At The Hogeweyk, these threads are woven into daily life, supporting their philosophy of “de-institutionalizing life with dementia.” A grocery store, a pub, an art studio, all symbols not of clinical care but of continuity. They whisper to residents: your life is still your own.
Empowered Living® and BeAdvice: Two Philosophies, One Goal in Dementia Care
The Dutch call their philosophy “BeAdvice.” At Clearwater, the guiding principle is Empowered Living®. On the surface, they are separated by language and geography, but at their core, they share the same conviction: life with choice, freedom, and purpose.
Clearwater’s Clearbrook Memory Support Neighborhoods carry this vision forward. Here, culinary spaces are more than dining rooms. They are places where decisions are honored, meals reflect resident preferences, and choice is built into the everyday experience. Programs are not simply boxes on a calendar, but invitations to connection, creativity, and joy. And care partners are not only providers of support, but stewards of story, learning each resident’s history and weaving it into the present, so that care becomes less about completing tasks and more about nurturing a life.
“The question we’re always asking,” Jill reflects, “is not just how do we care for people with dementia, but how do they live better with dementia?”
Lessons for Memory Support: Bringing Hogeweyk Inspiration to Clearwater
One of Jill’s most vivid takeaways was deceptively simple: leave room for life’s ordinary pleasures. “Not everything has to be scheduled,” she says. “Sometimes it is about making dinner together instead of having it made for you. Or setting the table with tablecloths and shared dishes, the way families used to.”
Clearwater is bringing these rituals more to life through their new program, Sunday Suppers. These Suppers are family-style gatherings where china will be used, dishes passed, and dessert enjoyed all while music fills the air, adding to the deeply nostalgic experience. Residents can share conversation over a communal meal while enjoying a time reminiscent of their own family gatherings.
For families, the same philosophy applies. Sharing the small rituals of life, stirring a pot of soup together, choosing a favorite blouse, or tending to a garden, are ways to affirm belonging. These everyday moments carry meaning. They remind us that life remains active, shared, and deeply personal, even when memory fades.
Beyond Care: Empowered Living Opens Doors in Memory Support
The dementia village is a reminder that care alone is not enough. Care is the foundation, yes, but the house must be built from choice, community, and a sense of purpose.
At Clearwater Living, that house has a name: Empowered Living. It is rooted in research, tested in practice, and alive in the small daily moments that sustain well-being. It recognizes that people living with dementia are not only residents but neighbors, friends, and storytellers. They deserve peace of mind, autonomy, and a life that reflects who they are.
Just as The Hogeweyk has opened doors to freedom and belonging, Clearwater opens its own. Our doors lead to gardens, shared suppers, laughter, and the comforting rhythms of routine. The parallels are clear, yet there is also opportunity. Within the regulated parameters of memory support, we continue to find creative ways to open more doors, to expand choice, and to ensure that life remains not only secure, but deeply lived.