Memory Care and Wellness Services Expands to Second Location

Helps Persons with Memory Loss and Family Caregivers

As a professional with a career spanning over 30 years at ElderHealth Northwest, Executive Director Nora Gibson is finely-tuned to the needs of her own aging parents. After noticing a decline in the physical strength and short term memory of her 83 year-old mother, Nora Gibson helped her enroll in ElderHealth's Memory Care and Wellness Services.

Funded through the King County Dementia Partnerships Project (DPP), Memory Care and Wellness Services is an enhanced adult day program which provides specialized services in a safe, social and therapeutic environment. Services are tailored to the needs of persons with moderate-to-severe dementia.

"The program is perfect for my mother," Nora says. "The professionally supervised exercises cover a range of balance, strength training and aerobic exercises, and other activities focus on cognitive stimulation. She loves having lunch with people who have rapidly become new friends. She has so much fun that she raved about the program to her physician, who is recommending it to other doctors in the practice. Plus, my dad gets a break and she has much to talk about when she returns home."

Originally based at a South Seattle location, the program recently expanded to a second site in North Seattle. Both locations are enrolling new participants, with most attending the program two or three times a week.

Family Care Consultation Helps Persons with Memory Loss and Family Caregivers

The Alzheimer's Association is another member of the DPP partnership and offers care consultations to strengthen the family's ability to manage the challenges of caring for a person with dementia. Trained professionals assess family and individual care needs, screen for safety, develop individualized care plans, and coordinate services. Consultations are available in the home or at the Alzheimer's Association office.

Services Are Great Benefit to Caregivers and Loved Ones

Diane Kaczmarcyk, an occupational therapist at ElderHealth, has worked with the partnership for several years and notes that persons with dementia and their caregivers derive great benefit. She says, "Beyond getting the resources they need, it can also be the first time that caregivers can get any TLC. With the time they have available while their loved one is at Memory Care and Wellness Services, they can take care of themselves. And the exercises we use in the program help persons with memory loss retain physical function, which is a huge help to a full-time caregiver."

Memory Care and Wellness Services incorporates an independent evaluation of the program's effectiveness, conducted by the University of Washington's Northwest Research Group on Aging and led by Dr. Rebecca Logsdon.

Families may learn about enrollment in this project by calling:

• Memory Care & Wellness Services, ElderHealth Northwest
  (206) 528-5315
  
  
• Care Consultation, Alzheimer's Association
  (206) 363-5500
  
  
• Dementia Partnerships Project
  Carlos Pulido, Aging and Disability Services
  (206) 615-0802

Family members may also learn about other community-based options if they are unable to participate in the partnership's services.