Revamping Memory Care Part 1: Treat the Person

Chateau Retirement Communities Executive Director Derek Larson joins Suzanne Newman on the Answers for Elders podcast to give an overview of the Alzheimer's epidemic and how it's affecting caregivers. Chateau Retirement is launching a new program primarily for senior living residents with Alzheimer's and dementia at Chateau Gardens at Chateau at Bothell Landing in Bothell, Washington. Derek talks about the program came about and how it's going. This week's show was recorded at Chateau Pacific in Lynnwood, Washington.

Derek shares his family experience. "My mom was diagnosed with dementia really, really young. She was only 51 when she passed. And as a 16-year-old kid, I didn't really know how to process that very well. And it was really challenging. Taking care of her was one of the hardest things ever did in my entire life. And was one of the most isolating times in my life. And so, going full 360 to being here today and having this opportunity, it means the world to be able to give back to the people that really need that love, and care, and that don't need to have less than a life just because they have this disease."

He adds, "It's just such a under-served population that we really, really felt the need to meet those people's needs as best we could. And so we decided to fully revamp the programs we were offering. And we created a task force to work on revamping that as well. As a team, we interviewed tons of our own staff. We interviewed some of our senior leadership. We toured many communities around the area to see where memory care units and communities were really knocking it out of the park. We did tons of research.

"Through all of that, we came to the realization that we wanted to create a space where people feel like it's home. They belong. They're at a place where they can be happy, healthy, live long lives. They can be engaged in whatever ways they want. It's just harder to do in that space, because people are not as able to vocalize their wants and needs.

"The biggest surprise is that it was really simple. It's not easy, but it's really simple. What people need is understanding who we are serving. It's just such a simple thing that just gets missed because people are so stuck on treating dementia and Alzheimer's instead of treating the person in front of them.

"We can see it quickly, even though we're still in the process of implementing everything we would like to. It didn't take long to just get a sense when you walk into a place of the way it feels. There's an energy, and you get an energy from the residents where you see them engaged, you see the staff engaged, you see smiles, you see family getting more involved. You see the rest of the community who have friends in memory care that had the stigma against it, and now feel like they feel empowered to be there and they want to be there. What we strive for is to be a community."

Chateau at Bothell Landing is located at 17543 102nd Ave NE in Bothell, Washington 98011-3787.

Chateau Retirement provides independent living, assisted living, and memory care services. They have been locally owned and family operated for more than 25 years. Chateau Retirement has three communities in Washington's Seattle/Puget Sound area: Chateau Pacific in Lynnwood, Bothell Landing in Bothell, and Chateau Valley Center in Renton.

Visit them online or call 800.960.1944. Also visit Chateau's specialist page on Answers for Elders to hear more of their shows.

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