--- title: Adam Sandler Movie '50 First Dates' Inspires Dementia Care description: One home for people suffering from Alzheimer's disease and dementia is using a method from Adam Sandler movie to help jog resident's memories at the start of the day. canonical: https://time.com/3828172/adam-sandler-movie-dementia/ author: Alexandra Sifferlin article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2015-04-20T15:32:57.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-22T06:31:01.786Z article:section: Health og:title: This Adam Sandler Movie Has Inspired a Method of Dementia Care og:description: Home for the elderly takes inspiration from '50 First Dates' og:url: https://time.com/3828172/adam-sandler-movie-dementia/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt6c37226617e009ae/6987ebd95f570f58c2b1934d/50-first-dates2.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: 50-first-dates2 og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: This Adam Sandler Movie Has Inspired a Method of Dementia Care twitter:description: Home for the elderly takes inspiration from '50 First Dates' twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt6c37226617e009ae/6987ebd95f570f58c2b1934d/50-first-dates2.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # This Adam Sandler Movie Has Inspired a Method of Dementia Care by [Alexandra Sifferlin](https://time.com/author/alexandra-sifferlin/) ## Alexandra Sifferlin Apr 20, 2015 3:32 PM UTC  Sony Pictures by [Alexandra Sifferlin](https://time.com/author/alexandra-sifferlin/) ## Alexandra Sifferlin Apr 20, 2015 3:32 PM UTC One home for people suffering from Alzheimer’s disease and dementia is using a method inspired by an Adam Sandler movie to help jog residents’ memories at the start of each day. In the 2004 film _50 First Dates_, actor Adam Sandler’s character creates a video that actress Drew Barrymore (whose character loses her memory each day) plays each morning to remind her who she is and what happened to her. The Hebrew Home at Riverdale in New York City has family members of its residents doing the same thing as Sandler’s character, the[ Associated Press reports](http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/US%5FDEMENTIA%5FFAMILY%5FVIDEOS?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT), recording videos of themselves providing messages and anecdotes for the patients to watch every morning. “\[The film\] was fluff, but it made me think,\`How could that translate to our residents with memory loss?'” Charlotte Dell, director of social services at the home told the AP. The Associated Press notes that people with Alzheimer’s present differently and that one technique may not work for everyone. \[[_AP_](http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/US%5FDEMENTIA%5FFAMILY%5FVIDEOS?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT)\] ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3828172/adam-sandler-movie-dementia/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3828172/adam-sandler-movie-dementia/"},"headline":"This Adam Sandler Movie Has Inspired a Method of Dementia Care","datePublished":"2015-04-20T15:32:57.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-22T06:31:01.786Z","description":"One facility is using a technique from \"50 First Dates\"","url":"https://time.com/3828172/adam-sandler-movie-dementia/","keywords":["Mental Health/Psychology","video","Adam Sandler","Dementia","Alzheimer's"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt6c37226617e009ae/6987ebd95f570f58c2b1934d/50-first-dates2.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Alexandra Sifferlin","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/alexandra-sifferlin/"}],"articleSection":"Health","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt6c37226617e009ae/6987ebd95f570f58c2b1934d/50-first-dates2.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"50-first-dates2","caption":"","creditText":"Sony Pictures","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/health/","name":"Health"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/mental-healthpsychology/","name":"Mental Health/Psychology"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3828172/adam-sandler-movie-dementia/","name":"This Adam Sandler Movie Has Inspired a Method of Dementia Care"}}]}] ```