Villa Marie skilled nursing facility in Jefferson City recently added The Cottages, a separate memory care facility with a focus on activities-based care for patients with dementia.
"It's truly focused more on what they want to do in terms of daily living rather than a skilled nursing-type thing," said certified dementia practitioner Rhonda Uhlembrock of StoneBridge Senior Living, which operates several senior living communities in Mid-Missouri. The Cottages is StoneBridge's first memory care program of its kind, she said.
The Cottages staffs an activities therapist seven days a week, 10 hours a day, whereas many memory care programs typically will have an activities therapist intermittently on weekdays, Uhlembrock explained.
"We have one every day of the week, 365 days a year," she said. "You have dementia every day of the year."
The memory care program is staffed by the same caretakers rather than a rotation, and can accommodate up to 10 residents.
"That is so that they get to know each other, so that their environment will be more stable for them," Uhlembrock said. "The staff that works in the memory care program only works in memory care. We don't alternate like a lot of facilities. All of our staff that are there are there because they want to work in dementia care: they interviewed for dementia care, and they trained for dementia care."
The Cottages facility offers six private rooms and two companion suites, as well as a common living room, dining area and enclosed courtyard. Additions like in-room refrigerators and microwaves try to make the setting more home-like for residents.
"We want them to continue their level of independence, so we encourage them to get up and heat their own coffee, we encourage them to go to the refrigerator and grab a snack ... rather than us structuring everything to fit our schedule," Uhlembrock said.
From the rooms to the flexible scheduling to empowering the residents to lead activities of their choosing, The Cottages is designed to maintain that independence in a safe setting.
"It's very important because they've lost control of so much. They've lost control of the ability to take care of the house. Many of them, they no longer have an occupation, so they've lost the importance of being a team member at work. Many of them, their spouses have died," Uhlembrock said. "What we believe is by giving them an activities-based program, you give them a new sense of purpose."
For more information about The Cottages and Villa Marie, call 573-635-3381 or visit stonebridgeseniorliving.com.
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