More dementia patients end up at Faroese care home

Five people with dementia now live at Herbergið, a care home in Tórshavn, after no other long-term arrangements could be found for them, the facility’s manager said.

Martin Kúrberg, manager of Herbergið, told KVF on Tuesday that the municipality has taken insufficient responsibility for people with dementia in the Faroe Islands. He said the home has applied for a permanent placement for one woman who has no family, but no solution has been secured. The woman wanders the streets of Tórshavn during the day and sometimes fails to return to the care home at night.

Kúrberg said the situation is not unique: the five residents with dementia at Herbergið reflect a broader lack of support for people with dementia across the islands. He questioned whether those with dementia receive the help and rights they require in the Faroe Islands.

“We have had to ask ourselves whether people with dementia in the Faroe Islands get the help they need and the rights they are entitled to,” Kúrberg said. “I believe Tórshavn Municipality and others are doing too little for this group.”