Des Moines, IA-based Via Health Services is set to open a women-only dementia unit this month at its Fleur Heights campus in Des Moines. It is the first of its kind for long-term care facilities in the state, Via President Jennifer Conner told the McKnight’s Business Daily.
“We have noticed that most of our behavioral issues tend to come from men, through no fault of their own. It’s just part of the dementia process,” Conner said, noting that interactions of a flirtatious or physical nature can happen. Dementia, she said, “can kind of arrest their inhibitions and make it so they’re unaware of their own strength.”
But “that can’t be allowed in the dementia arena because they [women] can’t formally consent to any of that,” Conner added.
A women-only unit will provide female residents with an extra layer of protection, she said, adding that it also will provide a “safe haven” for women who have been victims of any type of domestic violence or similar trauma in their past.
The 32-bed unit, called Iris at Fleur Heights, is a newly renovated former skilled nursing unit.
The idea for a memory care unit dedicated to women came about in 2020 when campus occupancy declined during the pandemic, Conner said. Residents were consolidated in one of the facility’s two wings while the other one sat vacant. Meanwhile, she said, the memory care unit at the company’s Carlisle, IA, campus always had a waiting list. The state approved Via’s plan for the Des Moines memory care unit in October 2021.
Iris at Fleur Heights held an open house for visitors Thursday. The first residents are expected to move in by the end of the month, Conner said.
Via’s existing co-ed memory care unit at the Carlisle campus, which also includes skilled nursing and assisted living, will continue to serve male and female residents, she said.
Single-sex memory care units are not unheard of, but they are not common.
Sonata Senior Living announced women-only dementia options, called Serenades for Her, at three memory care communities in Florida — Serenades at the Villages, Serenades at Longwood and Serenades at West Orange — earlier this year. Williamsburg Village Healthcare Campus in DeSoto, TX, opened a 28-bed all-female memory care unit in 2018, and Quail Ridge Living Center in Colcord, OK, has an all-female memory care unit as well.
A spokesperson for the American Health Care Association / National Center for Assisted Living said that it is not aware of any other single-sex dementia units in the United States.
