From the wise words of Toy Story, “You’ve got a friend in me”.
Here at Prestige Senior Living, our approach to memory care is that we want to provide the comfort and joy of friendship to every resident.
Our communities value and celebrate each of our residents as individuals by cultivating an environment that honors your loved one’s life and experiences in both the present and the past by applying The Concept of Friendship.
It provides a way for our team, your loved one, and other residents to build relationships based on trust and respect. As these friendships blossom, our memory care residents obtain an outlet for creativity and healthy aging with our life enrichment program, Expressions.
As a part of our Expressions program, our communities put together fun-filled activity calendars that keep residents engaged with things they love by offering a vast number of options every day.
Our team members and residents enjoy and create bonds over movie nights, arts and crafts, puzzles, gardening, and many more adventures every day such as a recent Summer Olympics held at several of our communities.
In addition to the fun aspect of friendship, our communities have immense empathy and compassion towards the difficulties of dementia and Alzheimer’s. Prestige’s Celebrations and Expressions Product Manager, Angie Frantz, developed and assembled a toolkit for family members and caregivers to get an insight into the struggles of day-to-day life while living with dementia. Our dementia toolkit demonstrates that memory loss is not the only battle your loved one faces as it mimics vision, hearing and sensory challenges the disease can cause.
Our friendship model was inspired by David Troxel, MPH, Alzheimer’s Disease and dementia expert, and his Best Friends™ Approach, which states that what a person with dementia needs most of all is a “Best Friend”. The Best Friends Approach starts with seven ‘building blocks’:
- Recognizing the basic rights of a person with dementia.
- Understanding what it’s like to have dementia.
- Knowing and using the person’s Life Story.
- Knowing just what to say when communication is breaking down.
- Developing the ‘Knack’ of great dementia care.
- Experiencing meaningful engagement throughout the day.
- Recasting the relationship and your language from staff to Best Friend.
We work with you and your loved one to gather a full sense of the entirety of each resident’s life story, from childhood to present, gaining insight into their interests, passions and history.
With the knowledge of likes, dislikes, and experiences we can provide a safe, secure and value-enriched atmosphere and become an extended family to you and your loved one.
Let us become your loved one’s best friend. To learn more about Expressions, our events calendars, and The Concept of Friendship by contacting the community nearest you.
