Senior Memory Care – November 2024

Senior memory care is foundational to the individualized and compassionate care required of those in senior living. Memory care addresses the challenges faced by seniors and their families coping with cognitive impairments, such as Alzheimer’s disease or dementia. Senior memory care facilities and in-home care professionals provide supportive and structured environments, so each individual senior is cared for in a way best suited to his/her unique needs.

Senior memory care assistance supports seniors and their families with empathy during a time of mental and emotional stress, aiding in daily activities such as bathing, dressing, meal prep and even in the managing of medication to ensure every senior and his/her unique condition is well taken care of. Senior memory care supports the mental and emotional strain inflicted on seniors and their families by emphasizing cognitive engagement with activities like reminiscence therapy, art therapy and music therapy, all of which are designed and integrated to help maintain cognitive function, seniors’ social lives and to reduce stress and anxiety.

Senior memory care assistance promotes a sense of dignity while comforting residents and their families during a time of distress, prioritizing seniors’ wellbeing with specialized care that supports both physical and psychological needs. It is possible for seniors needing memory care assistance to maintain their independence and individuality, which is something Lincoln’s professionals take to heart.

Compassionate Senior Communities

“Cedarhurst wanted to up our game in terms of memory care to be a best-in-class memory care provider,” says Director of Education & Engagement for Cedarhurst (cedarhurstliving.com), Tara Powell.

In the fall of 2023, Cedarhurst launched an initiative with the goal to train staff in memory care across its 50 plus senior care communities within one year, and it did just that! Cedarhurst is setting a new standard in dementia care. To date, Cedarhurst has trained 300 Certified Dementia Practitioners.

Powell is one of four Certified Alzheimer’s Disease and Dementia Care Trainers (CADDCT) rolling out specialized training to staff. In addition to the CDP certification, Cedarhurst has developed its own dementia training curriculum that has been approved by the Alzheimer’s Association.

Even Cedarhurst’s sales team undergoes dementia training to guarantee they engage with potential residents or long-term Cedarhurst inhabitants with empathy and understanding in every interaction.

Cedarhurst is committed to resident satisfaction. Cedarhurst understands that it does its best work when it’s listening to those it serves, which is why one will find the Cedarhurst team members always asking for residents’ experiences. Cedarhurst is there to learn and make innovative changes to its communities, so it can serve its residents even better. Cedarhurst’s plan goes beyond annual resident satisfaction surveys. Instead, it makes assessing satisfaction a part of its daily interactions.

“We also target all levels of care, not just memory care. Assisted and independent living managers also receive training because seniors may be living with dementia in all levels of care,” notes Powell.

It is this open-minded, comprehensive approach to care that makes Cedarhurst’s communities trusted homes for Lincoln seniors and gives peace of mind to their loved ones.

Calm Memory Care Communities

Founded in 1995, Legacy Retirement Communities (legacyretirement.com) have been distinguished as leaders in the senior living industry and have earned numerous local and national awards for their elegant communities, as well as their world-class service and programming. Legacy Retirement Communities believes in care, convenience, and enrichment, and have been voted Best of Lincoln for 26 years in a row.

Legacy Arbors Memory Care strives to ensure all its residents experience personal and purposeful care. For this reason, The Legacy is thoughtfully designed to promote the independence, dignity and individuality of each resident through Legacy’s person-centered approach to care. The Legacy’s staff is specially trained to work with the complexities of Alzheimer’s and dementia. Stimulating wellness programming and social opportunities enrich the lives of residents, while they are provided with 24/7 personalized assistance for bathing, dressing, medication and more.

The Legacy was the first of its kind in Lincoln and sets the standard for all to follow. Located on the corner of 56th and Pioneers Boulevard, the stunning Pioneer Legacy brick, wildlife and waterfall sculpture sits at the entrance to the property, adding grace and culture to grounds already rich in visual beauty. Seniors needing memory care can cultivate a life of serenity with quiet walks through the gardens or reading in the sunroom, which overlooks the Koi pond. As a Lincoln community landmark, the Legacy is rich with history, stability and thus, amazing senior memory care.

At Legacy Retirement Communities, seniors can expect to embrace an enriching lifestyle, whether they’re an adventure-seeker, a life-long learner, an eager volunteer or all of the above. Legacy is proud to be a family-owned and operated business and is grateful for the opportunity to serve the Lincoln community and its families for years to come.

Empowering Seniors: The liveMORE Approach at Salt Creek Senior Living

Salt Creek Senior Living (dialseniorliving.com) is dedicated to ensuring a smooth transition into senior living, recognizing that finding the right community allows families to focus on their relationships rather than caregiving duties. The community’s liveMORE memory care program is thoughtfully designed to enhance cognitive abilities while enriching daily life. This program is grounded in the understanding that while individuals with dementia may forget specific details, they remember how they were treated.

liveMORE adopts a holistic approach, encouraging meaningful connections between residents and caregivers. It emphasizes resident choice and offers tailored learning opportunities, fostering a sense of belonging among peers. Drawing from established philosophies and contemporary research, liveMORE integrates five wellness pillars: physical, emotional, intellectual, spiritual and social. Residents engage in exercise for at least 30 minutes daily and enjoy culinary options that nourish both body and soul.

The program promotes emotional well-being through activities that encourage engagement with social causes and intergenerational connections, as well as providing tranquil spaces for relaxation. Intellectual stimulation is prioritized with innovative educational programs and excursions designed to enhance cognitive function. Spiritual wellness is nurtured through ecumenical worship and opportunities for reflection, creating connections among residents, staff and families.

Social wellness is cultivated through common areas that promote interaction and community events, establishing Salt Creek Senior Living as a premier choice for memory care services in Lincoln and its surrounding areas. Joe Bohac, Senior Living Advisor at Salt Creek Senior Living, underscores the importance of seeking assistance: “I want seniors and their families to recognize that they cannot handle everything alone; it truly takes a village. Caregiver burnout is a serious issue, and it is perfectly acceptable to ask for help. Above all, we must prioritize ensuring that seniors receive the quality care they deserve.”

Sincere Senior Care

Seniors facing the challenges of Alzheimer’s disease and other related dementia need a safe, nurturing environment, so Sumner Place (sumnerplacecare.com) specializes in individualized programs designed to reduce seniors’ feelings of confusion, fear and agitation and offer meaningful, enjoyable activities that stimulate the mind and body. Sumner Place’s services focus on residents’ wide range of abilities, and Sumner Place welcomes and encourages family involvement.

Sumner Place has been enhancing residents’ lives since 1975, enjoying visits by students from its nearby Prescott Elementary School, who visit during the school year to connect with residents.

Sumner Place prides itself on providing resident-focused care, independence and a home-like atmosphere. Sumner Place has three households and a walk-out entrance and patio for its Alzheimer’s residents in the secure Memory Support household. Sumner Place works hard to create a living environment that continuously enriches each resident’s life.

Sumner Place’s excellent staff strives daily to serve the residents and their family’s needs, while also maintaining dignity for all residents, families, visitors and caregivers.

“Our commitment is to deliver innovative, individually-focused care,” says Admissions and Public Relations Coordinator Megan Herter. “We can provide what you need today and the security of knowing that there are options for tomorrow. We are more than happy to discuss the many different living possibilities available to help you make an informed decision on which option is right for you. In select areas, we can also bring the care to you with our home health care.”

Sumner Place takes specialized senior care to the next level, so Lincoln seniors and their loved ones can feel assured they are surrounded by senior memory care experts who genuinely care.

Compassionate Memory Care Communities

Memory loss can be a deeply sensitive time during a senior’s life, so Waterford Communities prioritizes making patients feel safe and loved. Waterford Communities (thewaterford.net) understands the role consistency plays in memory care and provides stability for residents by ensuring residents are cared for by the same staff members time after time to develop familiar and trusting relationships. The Waterford Communities staff strives to be an extension of the family, a team that can be trusted to pay attention to the positive milestones and displays of joy by the resident. Staff always uses the residents name, a smile and eye contact when engaging with a resident to further develop that sensation of familiarity and thus, stability.

If one starts to notice that his/her loved one is having difficulty remembering recent events or conversations, confused about times or places or is unable to find the right words to articulate feelings or thoughts, it is a good idea to seek memory care assistance or communities like those of Waterford.

These changes can be disheartening, but Waterford encourages those with a family member or family members who are starting to show signs of memory loss to be patient, be present and seek help. This doesn’t have to be overly complex. Seniors and their families can even benefit from Waterford’s short-stay or day services, whether the need is for just one day or a few weeks. Day services include care throughout the day while short stays involve the senior’s moving into the community temporarily. This allows caregivers the time to make personal appointments, run errands or just have a break. No matter the severity, memory care assistance can be helpful for anyone and any family!

High-Quality Health Care

Meeting the complex and ever-changing care demands for people with memory care needs can be challenging, and care giving often falls on the shoulders of family members and friends. While care giving can be rewarding, caregivers often burn out and experience greater health problems themselves.

Noreen Home Care (noreenhomehealthcare.com) can help and focuses on client routines and safety, allowing seniors to stay in the comfort of their own home. The little things matter, so Noreen Home Care ensures grab bars are in place or throw rugs are picked up/tacked down. Noreen cares for seniors by providing a supportive environment with reminders, clear communication and consistent routines and encourages seniors to consistently see a doctor for evaluations and treatment options.

“If you have a family member experiencing early signs of memory loss, it’s important to approach the situation with patience, understanding and open communication; encourage them to seek medical evaluation; be supportive; maintain a positive attitude; and consider utilizing memory aids like calendars and lists,” suggests Noreen Health Care’s Professional Staff. “You should also consider seeking out support groups and information from healthcare professionals, so you don’t feel isolated in trying to navigate this challenging time.”

Noreen Home Care ensures the burden of caring for a loved one with memory loss doesn’t fall solely on seniors’ family members by offering trained caregivers to provide respite care options to give family members breaks, coordinating with healthcare providers to manage medical needs and providing emotional support and education to family members about managing dementia-related challenges at home. Lincolnites can be sure that Noreen Home Care will share the responsibility of senior memory care, allowing family members to maintain their quality of life while still being involved in their loved one’s care!

Memory Support Assistance by Caring Friends

It can be a scary and emotional to see a loved one undergo mental changes and decline. Caring Friends In-Home Care (caringfriends.com) encourages the family and friends of the loved one needing memory care to educate themselves on best practices that can be implemented to support those who need memory assistance.

There are many community support programs and senior health professionals that can help, like those at Caring Friends. Professional Caregivers at Caring Friends In-Home Care meet their clients’ needs as they change. They understand some clients have minimal needs at the start of care, but those needs may increase over time. The team adjusts care plans regularly to accommodate the needs of their clients to ensure each client is always safe in his/her home.

Repetitive stories, changes in mood or behavior, lack of recall for familiar items or names and forgetting appointments are examples of a changes in cognitive behavior. Reach out to your medical professional for advice and guidance to support you and your loved one. Being aware and supportive of loved ones throughout these changes is important. Avoiding confronting, or provoking behavior, instead try redirecting conversations or supportive reassurance in a gentle, positive way.

Caring Friends supports the Lincoln and greater part of southern Nebraska by offering non-medical in-home care services, which support both the client and their family. These services can alleviate the burden of navigating support of memory care alone. Additionally, Caring Friends connects with local community members who provide additional support to its clients and their families.

Angelic Senior Care

At Visiting Angels (visitingangels.com), client safety and comfort is the priority. Before Visiting Angels even selects a caregiver to visit the client’s home, it gets to know the client and his/her individual needs to make a match according to experience and personality. This deep understanding helps build relationships and start them on the right path.

“If you’re noticing a pattern of your loved one having trouble finding the right word to describe something basic, this is an early warning to seek a memory care assistance provider like Visiting Angels,” says Brand Advocate Jenny Fisher. “They might describe the object as everything but the correct word or dance around the topic until you help them say the right thing. When this happens, remember to notice how often this is occurs and find a pattern of the occurrences. You should then call your loved one’s doctor and try to get a neurologist’s evaluation.”

Visiting Angels doesn’t want seniors’ loved ones to shoulder anything alone. Visiting Angels suggests taking the time to go to a support group, where one can find comfort in sharing one’s experience with others who understand and are walking in the same emotions, stress and hardships. It sounds hard to fathom, but Visiting Angels encourages seniors and their families to try and laugh. Call a friend, watch a silly show or do something light to feel reprieve from the heavy emotions mental disease can cause.

Circumstances such as these are the main reason Visiting Angels exists. They want to help family members get some respite. Once Visiting Angels’ caregivers build a relationship of trust with the client and the client’s family, those loved ones will oftentimes feel comfortable enough to leave their loved one, so they can take care of themselves. This holistic approach to senior memory care is why the community of Lincoln calls on Visiting Angels time after time.

Patient-Centered Pharmaceuticals

Making an impact in the community is Owner Shannon Schultz’s top priority, so Nebraska LTC Pharmacy (neltcpharmacy.com) is proud to serve Lincoln’s seniors and the family and friends who love them.

In the beginning, Schultz ran her business out of a closet-sized office with just five clients. Now, she has five amazing employees and an expanded office space that serves over 300 clients, offering pharmaceutical expertise to seniors and their families alike!

There is one thing that has never changed–Nebraska LTC Pharmacy’s mission to offer unmatched care. Nebraska LTC Pharmacy loves serving Lincoln’s seniors, offering its shoulder to lean on during the emotional time of a senior’s memory loss or struggle, and proudly denotes itself as a concierge pharmacy due to its unmatched attention to detail and customer service, which is unlike many other retail pharmacies. Located at 3901 Normal Blvd. STE 203, Nebraska LTC Pharmacy’s unwavering goal is to provide individualized patient care that both increases safety and prolongs seniors’ independence.

Nebraska LTC Pharmacy also wants to make an impact on the pharmaceutical industry at large, to rewrite and improve the expectations seniors have of pharmacies today. Nebraska LTC Pharmacy advocates for the avoidance of polypharmacy, works to increase communication among healthcare professionals to reduce medication errors and hospitalizations and above all, aims to provide a small-town level of customer service upon which the Lincoln community can always rely.

Attentive Senior Advising

CarePatrol of Lincoln (carepatrol.com) has been setting the standard for senior placement services since 1993 and is the pioneer organization in the placement-services industry. CarePatrol’s core values are dedicated to being a comprehensive personal service and valuable resource for families as they navigate senior memory care, which is an extremely delicate time for both the senior and his/her loved ones.

CarePatrol understands that being different makes all the difference. CarePatrol’s local senior advisors visit clients’ residences and talk face to face with seniors and their families, taking the time to learn about each senior’s unique memory care needs. CarePatrol’s advisors are personally supportive through every step of the process, leaving no question unasked.

CarePatrol’s senior advisors live where its seniors live and know the area. Because of this, they provide a “local” view on high-quality memory care facilities and resources and help seniors and their families in person when touring and comparing communities.

CarePatrol’s network of providers are licensed and in good standing. CarePatrol will only recommend senior memory care communities that it has vetted and that will provide the level of care required for each senior’s individual needs. For these reasons, CarePatrol has been and will continue to be a leader in the senior placement industry, and Lincolnites will be able to depend on CarePatrol for decades to come.

“We want to help make the senior memory care transition as stress free as possible, which is why we offer free customer service to our families,” says Owner Michael Conover. “We are dedicated to helping each family make a good decision out of a seemingly large sea of bad ones, providing all the resources they need to make a well-informed decision.

Senior Real Estate

Senior memory care extends beyond caregivers and care facilities; where a senior lives can contribute to his/her health and well-being too. Nebraska Real Estate Specialty Group of Nebraska Realty (nebraskarealty.com) specializes in making the home-buying process easier and more accessible for seniors, with specialists dedicated to working specifically with seniors and their families.

When looking for a new house to accommodate a senior’s memory care needs, seniors and their loved ones should consider factors such as accessibility features, proximity to healthcare facilities and the overall ease of maintenance. It’s important to think about the future and how the home will meet the senior’s needs as he/she ages, even if traditional memory care seems far off in the future. Ensuring the the location is right and the home is adaptable to changing needs provides long-term peace of mind.

Nebraska Real Estate Specialty Group leverages the latest tools and technologies to enhance the service it provides to seniors. This includes virtual tours that allow seniors to view homes without leaving their current residence and digital signing options that simplify paperwork.

Nebraska Real Estate Specialty Group offers comprehensive services including the Downsizing Club, which helps seniors prepare for moving, and the Nebraska Savvy Senior Empowerment Seminars, designed to educate, equip and empower seniors to live their best life. The team also offers the Senior Stories Podcast to share interesting stories. For veterans, there is a veteran specialist dedicated to helping seniors navigate their unique needs.

Additionally, Nebraska Real Estate Specialty Group provides guides to assist seniors and Legacy Planning Kits to ensure that all necessary documents are readily available for any situation. And, because life should be enjoyable, the team organizes Travel Adventures, making it fun and safe for seniors to explore new places with a group of friends!

This comprehensive service package reflects Nebraska Real Estate Specialty Group’s commitment to delivering not just senior-friendly, but also family-accommodating, compassionate and innovative support, which proudly supports Lincoln seniors and their families navigating senior memory care.

Lincoln’s senior memory care experts prioritize an individualized and compassionate approach to care to help addresses the challenges faced by seniors and their families coping with cognitive impairments, such as Alzheimer’s disease or dementia. Lincoln’s senior memory care facilities, in-home care professionals and advisors provide supportive and structured environments, so each individual senior is always cared for in a way best suited to his/her unique needs.