Argentum and post-acute care technology provider MatrixCare are recognizing seven innovations they say improve resident care and quality of life for assisted living residents with dementia.
The effort is the first project announced from Argentum’s three-year corporate partnership with long-term and post-acute care technology provider MatrixCare, which was first publicized in September.
Two efforts identified by Argentum’s Memory Care Executive Peer Group as being breakthroughs were a permanent art gallery integrating the Margherita day center for Alzheimer’s disease in Fano, Italy, with its users and the city, and an improvisational theater group designed to engage people living with dementia. The latter is tied to a research study exploring outcomes related to nonpharmacologic interventions.
Three projects deemed transformational by the peer group include a Nasher Museum Alzheimer’s program in Durham, NC, that provides interactive tours for those with dementia as well as their families and care partners; a program in the Netherlands via which university students pay no rent in exchange for spending 30 hours of time a month with their 160 older housemates; and an art-based tablet application for those with dementia and their care partners to use together multiple times a week.
Two programs thought to be incremental by the peer group included a library in the United Kingdom that allows people with memory impairments to try technology at home before individuals commit to buying a certain tool or resource for themselves or their families, and an Alzheimer’s Resource Center project that works to nurture relationships, collaboration and teamwork throughout neighborhood teams.
The Memory Care Executive Peer Group, with the support of MatrixCare, sought to honor innovations in five areas: environmental design, programming, dining and nutrition, education and training, and technology. The final results of the project will be released later this year.
“We look forward to sharing these memory care innovations and creating toolkits to help providers implement them in their memory care programs,” said MatrixCare Chief Clinical Officer Denise Wassenaar.
The memory care roundtable met to discuss and rate 50 nominated innovations, reviewing whether they offered incremental, breakthrough or transformational ideas for memory care in senior living.
Memory Care Executive Peer Group Chairman Maria Nadelstumph, who also serves as Brandywine Living’s vice president of organizational development and program excellence, said: “We’re always seeking memory care innovations from the industry — some unique and different as well as recognizing those that are more traditional. We looked at programs both nationally and internationally to identify innovation relatable to our industry.”
