What Is Memory Care?
Memory care facilities are communities for people with dementia, Alzheimer’s disease, and other memory problems. They’re staffed 24/7 with nurses who specialize in memory care. Staff assist with medication management, activities of daily living (ADLs) like eating and getting dressed, housekeeping, transportation, nutrition, and more. Care is designed with a person-centered approach, meaning it’s unique to each individual senior’s needs.
Memory Care at Rolling Green Village
At Rolling Green Village, our memory care offering is enhanced by our employment of Heartfelt CONNECTIONS – A Memory Care Program® and our community’s memory care neighborhood model. We have a small, intimate memory care neighborhood, with 22 private residences centered around a communal dining and gathering space. Residents receive personalized care from dedicated caregivers.
What Is Heartfelt CONNECTIONS – A Memory Care Program®?
Rolling Green Village memory care believes that a senior’s abilities that remain are far more important than those that have been lost due to memory problems like dementia and Alzheimer’s. And we know that memory care must be specialized based on each senior’s lifetime worth of experiences and memories.
We’re the only senior living community in the Greenville, South Carolina, area that offers Heartfelt CONNECTIONS – A Memory Care Program®, a positive, life-affirming approach to memory care. The program aims to reduce a senior’s anxiety and increase their sense of safety and well-being by focusing on improving their social interactions and doing familiar daily activities. The goal is to increase their confidence and independence by setting them up to succeed, which brings joy and fulfillment to their lives. Heartfelt CONNECTIONS – A Memory Care Program® uses a Quality of Life assessment tool to measure a resident’s cognitive functioning ability, and then they are matched with other residents of similar cognitive ability and are encouraged to engage in socialization in a homey, communal environment.
The Memory Care Neighborhood Model
Rolling Green Village memory care is designed in a dementia-friendly neighborhood model, which means all residences, while private, connect to a communal space where the residents gather to dine and socialize, much like a family in a home. This approach ensures residents feel safe and at home, and have plenty of opportunities to socially engage with those on a similar mental plane. Life is made easier for them so they may enjoy it to their fullest extent. They are encouraged to participate in daily activities they’re familiar with, which builds self-confidence and independence, while having their needs like providing meals and home and personal upkeep taken care of for them.
Memory care neighborhoods are designed to cater to someone whose cognitive functions are not operating at their most ideal rate. For examples, the design of the building itself may be circular rather than angular so residents with significant memory loss wander in a pattern that keeps them moving, rather than being met with dead ends and becoming frustrated by it. Dementia-friendly design can also include certain elements to keep a person with memory loss entertained and not agitated, like a fish tank, or certain kinds of programs to watch on TV. Memory care activities are planned and designed to entertain residents while aiming to improve their cognitive functioning and promote their sense of purpose, therefore increasing self-esteem.
What Makes Memory Care at Rolling Green Village Unique?
In our intimate and personalized memory care setting, we take a holistic approach to wellness, thoughtfully considering each aspect of our residents’ lives and how we can optimize their experience here to improve their quality of life as much as possible. One practice we utilize is our light sensory room. This unique feature in our memory care facility contains lights, sounds, textures and more to stimulate the senses and engage the mind, which residents find calming.
We also have a curiosity room supplied with a wide range of different products and materials to engage the memory care residents. Our PARO pet, Jenny, is a robotic seal puppet designed to reduce stress and improve relaxation, motivation and socialization. And we have a music therapy program, which engages residents with familiar and likable music to improve their mood, behavior, sociability and even cognitive ability.
No other senior living community in the Greenville, South Carolina, area offers Heartfelt CONNECTIONS – A Memory Care Program®. And with our unique memory care neighborhood model and programs thoughtfully curated to highlight our residents’ abilities, people with dementia can build close, fulfilling relationships with caregivers and neighbors. If you’re interested in our person-centered approach to memory care for seniors, learn more about our memory care program.
