We will do a Personal Needs Assessment before your mother moves in to determine exactly what support services she requires in regards to her dementia and otherwise. This assessment will be reviewed with you, your mom and other family members as well as her physician. From this assessment we develop a service plan that is unique to your mother’s needs. This plan serves as a guide so our staff knows exactly what support your mom needs—and how we can best meet those needs.

This assessment will be updated 30 days after your mother moves in, to allow us to confirm the accuracy of the initial assessment and to give her time to adjust to her new home. From that point on, this assessment is updated quarterly or upon any significant change in her physical or mental status.

Residents are encouraged to invite family and friends to join them for a meal or a snack at any time for a nominal fee. We also have a private dining room, which may be reserved for special occasions. Our staff can handle all the preparation and service details, which will allow your mother to enjoy the event with her guests, without the work or the worry!

Our housekeepers are trained to communicate with residents who have dementia – they understand that the resident may become anxious when their room is cleaned or things are moved. We try to put things back exactly as they were. For some residents, it works best if their apartment is cleaned while they are at lunch, taking a bath or involved in an activity outside their room. Because we recognize each resident as an individual, we know that sometimes we have to take several passes to get a room clean—taking care to clean the most needy areas first—and getting to the less critical areas at a later time.

We know how frustrating it is to watch dementia take our loved ones from us. It is a horrendous condition. The dementia has erased a lot of the most recent memories of your grandmother. Every person with dementia is first of all a person—they are still the person they always were on the inside. It is still important for you to spend time with her, even if she doesn’t know the grown-up you! She may not be able to remember what happened this morning or yesterday or even the past few years because a person with dementia is often more present in their older memories. If you can accept these changes you will be able to find more joy and less frustration in your visits with grandma.

Try to talk with her and share with her things that she may recall more easily—events of your youth or even her youth, smells and tastes that she knew well, even pictures of her younger years may make for lively conversations.

You might want to look at a great book titled Creating Moments of Joy, by Jolene Brackey (©2007, Purdue University Press, West Lafayette, IN), which offers many practical yet simple suggestions for our interactions with persons with dementia.

You just described two of the most common mealtime challenges that people with dementia face. Many times they are just not able to stay focused to eat a whole meal, or the plate of food is too confusing so they just walk away. For others, they become very sensitive to textures and temperatures of food. Our staff is very practiced in the “try, try, try again” approach to helping our residents eat. We limit distractions during meals, provide additional staff support for those residents who lose their focus, offer “finger-friendly” food for those who may need to wander and truly just keep trying. It can be very challenging to satisfy the nutritional needs of persons with dementia, but our culinary and resident support staff make meals and snacks a priority.

Moving a loved one to a specialized dementia care facility is a big decision. We know that you want to ensure your parent gets the quality care they need and deserve. We are happy to answer any questions that you may have about our home and the services that are available here for residents with dementia. Feel free to contact the administrator at the assisted living home of your choice. They will be happy to answer your questions and talk to you about any of your concerns.

We also encourage you to check out our Helpful Resources section for additional help.

Our staff responds to all emergency cord signals. We know that residents with dementia are often not able to relate pulling the cord to calling a staff person. When we respond to dementia signals, we just shut off the signal and check on your loved one and their surrounding area to be sure everything is okay. From there, we follow protocol based on how your loved one is doing.

We offer a wide variety of activities. He may be interested in our Men’s Group, coffee group, regularly organized games, or our daily exercise program. Our staff is trained to work with dementia residents, and will encourage him to attend activities that interest him. Each assisted living home with specialized dementia care maintains their own activities calendar based on the interests of the residents; to view it online select the assisted living home of your choice and select the “Events” link.

Medicare does not cover the cost of dementia care.

Health care insurance does not cover specialized dementia care or assisted living, but many long-term care insurance policies do and some plans can be purchased into your 80s.

If you are a veteran, or the spouse or dependent of a veteran, you may qualify for certain financial supports through the Veterans Benefits Administration at 800-827-1000.

Life Settlements offer a unique opportunity to supplement your resources through the sale of a life insurance policy that may no longer be needed.

In some cases, the MI Choice Waiver Program may be available if a person meets certain level of care, income and asset eligibility requirements.

Under IRS guidelines, the entire cost of assisted living associated with dementia care may be deductible. Refer to IRS Form 502 for more information and be sure to check with your accountant, financial planner or attorney.