Designed For Memory Loss
If you have a loved one with memory loss, you may be familiar with the concept of memory care. Memory care provides housing and round-the-clock care for patients with Alzheimer’s disease or dementia.
A facility specializing in memory care offers a safe, personalized, and specially designed environment, created to help improve quality of life for those with memory loss, and helping to reduce wandering and confusion.
Memory care facilities are a comfortable and safe environment for those suffering from memory loss, with 24-hour care, and specially trained staff.
If you are considering memory care for your loved one, here are a few questions to consider: :
- Is my loved one unsafe in their current living situation?
- Is my loved one’s health at risk?
- Are my loved one’s needs beyond my capabilities, or the qualifications of their present caregiver?
- Does my loved one need more daily structure?
- Does my loved one require more social interaction?
- Would my loved one benefit from a more calm and comfortable environment?
How Can Memory Care Benefit My Loved One?
Residents of a memory care facility benefit from various memory-focused therapies, and staff strives to help prolong daily abilities through enriching activities designed to stimulate cognition.
Other benefits of a memory care facility can include:
- Low staff-to-resident ratios to help provide more personalized care
- Coordinated care with other health care providers
- Personalized living spaces
- Natural light
- Reduced background noise to help minimize confusion
- Person-centered care for memory loss
A Place Like Home
Memory Care facilities are filled with specially trained staff who take a holistic approach to enhance people’s quality of life with memory loss. These programs are designed with a home-like atmosphere, encouraging comfort and helping to minimize confusion.
Residents often eat meals together in a family-style environment, and staff is available 24 hours a day to assist residents with the activities of daily living (ADLs).
Memory facilities enlist and train their knowledgeable and kindhearted staff to help minimize and prevent challenging dementia behaviors, such as:
- Delusion: Believing or insisting on something that isn’t real, or does not exist.
- Hallucinating: Seeing, hearing, or feeling something that isn’t there.
- Sleep disturbance: Patients with memory loss can experience erratic sleep patterns and nighttime wandering.
- Destructive Behaviors: Breaking or defacing property, or hurting themselves.
- Agitation: Physical or verbal aggression, emotional distress, restlessness, and pacing.
Memory care communities are designed with residents’ safety in mind. Safety features like locked and alarmed exit doors help provide a secure environment that minimizes wandering and confusion.
Comfortable Surroundings
A person with memory loss can significantly benefit from a relaxing living space. Many memory care facilities are designed with specially curated features that help minimize confusion and comfort residents with memory loss.
A memory care facility can feature many of the following design elements:
- A home-like atmosphere: Family-style meals, and other comforting elements help create a feeling of ease for those with memory loss.
- Brightly colored walls & floors: To aid with visual limitations.
- Natural light: Bright, well-lit spaces provide comfort.
- Shared community spaces: To encourage socialization and interactions with others.
- Gardens: An opportunity to be physically active in a beautiful environment.
- Personalized memory boxes and decorations: For use with cognitive therapies and to help residents feel at home.
Encouraging Activities
Programs and activities in a memory care facility are specifically designed with a focus on memory enhancement. These programs are often personalized for each resident, and thoroughly researched to help promote quality of life and support cognitive functions.
Programs and activities can often include:
- Music therapy: Music is proven to enhance memory, lower stress, and improve recall abilities in patients with memory loss.
- Occupational therapy: To provide strategies for coping with cognitive decline.
- Pet therapy: Furry friends offer a calming influence and encourage companionship.
- Puzzles: Physical and mental stimulation personalized for each resident.
- Arts & Crafts therapy: Tapping into creative juices helps promote cognitive function.
- Aromatherapy: Using scents to evoke familiar memories.
Person-Centered Care
With low staff-to-resident ratios, memory care facilities can provide more personalized care for seniors with memory loss.
Each community member is a unique individual with their own life story, and their therapies and activities are catered towards their interests and needs.
With more time and specialized training, staff members can socialize with residents and gain essential knowledge about their habits, quirks, likes, passions, and hobbies.
Compassionate staff can develop relationships with residents and their family members, and create a more customized care plan to help support physical health and emotional wellbeing.
Supporting Our Residents With Memory Loss
Memory care facilities are multi-faceted, and knowing their inner workings may help you determine if this level of care is the right fit for your loved one and their needs.
If you’ve read through the provided information and still have questions about memory care, contact the team at Arcadia at Limerick Pointe. We’re a community that believes in the power of a life well-lived, and want to ensure that everyone finds the right fit within our facility.
Our compassionate and knowledgeable staff are genuinely committed to providing high-quality memory care for our residents, and would love to help you and your family decide your next steps.
