Answers for Elders

Alzheimer's and dementia expert Forrest Stepnowski joins Suzanne to talk about dementia, particularly when someone with dementia has gone through a traumatic event. Forrest is CarePartners Living's Executive Director of The Cottages at Renton, in Seattle.

Alzheimer's and dementia expert Forrest Stepnowski joins Suzanne to talk about learning to communicate better with those who have dementia. Forrest is CarePartners Living's Executive Director of The Cottages at Renton, in Seattle.

Tonya Hilson at CarePartners Senior Living joins Suzanne to talk about how we can do better with our seniors to reduce feelings of loneliness and isolation. Tonya says, "If they still have a pulse and a heartbeat, they want to still have you near them, whether they remember you or not. I would love to see people take the time to make a senior smile."

Tonya Hilson talks about physical wellness and senior living: maintaining health, movement, and eating well.

Venetia Dela Cruz talks about the importance in senior living of feeling safe and comfortable in our homes, in an environment that brings people joy.

Tonya Hilson at CarePartners Living talks about how social wellness keeps seniors grounded in the best quality of life in senior living. This segment focuses on social community, our ability to connect with others.

Venetia Dela Cruz from CarePartners Living talks about Emotional Wellness as it pertains to senior living. It is at the core of our being, where we're most able to adapt to changes. It is our sense of well-being and our willingness to nurture and be nurtured.

Suzanne joins Community Relations & Marketing Director Tanya Hilson to talk about the The Cottages of Renton, a CarePartners Senior Living community just for seniors who have dementia and Alzheimer's. The layout is unique. Each Cottage opens and exits into an expansive but secure outside interior courtyard allowing residents the freedom to safely stroll, exercise and enjoy open spaces among landscaped walkways and surroundings. The memory care community offers three small, cozy cottages, each with a maximum of 20 residents. This design concept allows them to provide senior loved ones with personal attention they deserve in a familiar, intimate, calm and safe environment.

Suzanne joins direct of nursing Melanie Caoagas for the grand opening weekend at Vineyard Park of Covington in Covington, WA. Melanie oversees the physical health and wellness of the residents: giving them medications, keeping communications with doctors and families, customizing their care plans, and keeping residents informed. The community's assisted living options offer personalized assistance, supportive services and compassionate care in a professionally managed, carefully designed, retirement community setting. It's for seniors who can no longer live on their own, but don’t need 24-hour, complex medical supervision.

Suzanne joins Community Relations Director Keith Roberts at Vineyard Park of Covington in Covington, WA to talk about the details of assisted living. For example, if mom is fine but dad needs help, they have a bonded pairs program where they can come and live together. The care can be provided for dad, mom can live independently, and we'll have an individualized care plan specifically tailored to dad's needs. And if dad ever needed memory care, and it started to not be safe for him to stay here at Vineyard Park, we could literally move him across the parking lot and he can stay with us in memory care as well. She can go visit him whenever she wants, plus she can take him out for activities on this side. There are so many options... if she needed to go to the grocery store, or just needed a little break, she can bring him back.

Suzanne joins Community Relations Director Keith Roberts for the grand opening weekend at Vineyard Park of Covington in Covington, WA. Assisted living is a whole new ball game these days because you have so many amenities: you get the theater, you get the activities, you get the best of everything. Being able to come into a community, know you're going to be cared for, have activities, be able to socialize with folks who are on the same journey as you, make new friends, establish new close bonds, and have a good experience and live with dignity for the rest of your life.

Suzanne joins activities director Chelsea Hansen for the grand opening weekend at Vineyard Park of Covington in Covington, WA. All sorts of things are happening this weekend, with various stations set up throughout the building showcasing events, activities, food, and live music with a Hawaiian theme. Vineyard Park has a host of clubs, plus Bingo, karaoke, a weekly social event, movie night, a monthly birthday dinner, men's poker night, and ladies night, with family as well as residents welcome.

Jill Martinez, director of community relations for CarePartners Living, discusses financial planning.

Jill Martinez, director of community relations for CarePartners Living, discusses Alzheimer's disease and CarePartners cottages.

Jill Martinez, director of community relations for CarePartners Living, discusses fall prevention and health.

Jill Martinez, director of community relations for CarePartners Living, discusses their Seattle-area North End communities.

Nichole Smith from CarePartners Living: We in the senior living industry think of ourselves as co-petitors, not competitors, and we meet on purpose to know all of the services out there. Just this morning I met with a group of 140 providers, and I thanked them all for their help, because we just went through placing my own family in assisted living, putting my dad in hospice, him ultimately passing away, and it was the people in that room that I called upon when my family needed help. One provider can't do everything

Fall is time when weather kicks up and we should get a head start on preventing falls. Colette Roberge at CarePartners Senior Living point our there are many hazards around the home or that seniors are doing that can cause falls. What medications are they taking? Are some combinations making them dizzy? Fall is good time for a follow-up with the doctor to assess all their medications. Colder weather brings arthritis, which can also bring falls, and there are also wet decks, icy walks.

Your senior loved one staying at home is the ultimate goal for as long as possible, but it can be hard if it involves maintaining a mortgage or a big yard. Sometimes families will wait because they don't want to give up the family home or their loved one has dug in, and they wait too long. Warning signs depend on their situation, but if they're living at home, are they able to manage their medications, are they eating appropriately? They're isolated and don't think about eating. Colette Roberge at CarePartners Senior Living sees residents move in, and new life comes back into them, and they flourish.

Nichole Smith at CarePartners Living says that a lot of science was put into the design of their cottages. Their clients with dementia have a cycle of self-isolation, depression, that exasperates the dementia. The cottages are based on a home environment. Each site has three cottages on it, 20 residents each, which encourages interaction. Residents smell the coffee in the morning, hear their neighbors getting up, going to breakfast just like they did when they had kids, and this encourages their curiosity.

Nichole Smith at CarePartners Senior Living says that surprisingly, a majority of financial abuse comes from family members. We often have so many red flags that families are squirreling away money. When a person loses their safety awareness, of course they trust their family more than anybody else, and family members may be making decisions which they think are in the best interest of their loved one, but later down the line it may make it so they can’t get on a state Medicaid program because they’ve gifted money within the last five years.

Jill Martinez, director of community relations for CarePartners Living, explains that Dementia can hit 90% of the population in some form. To care for a loved one on your own is an overwhelming experience. We really try to help them through that process of determining when it’s time to consider memory care or moving their loved one into a retirement community, because there really are some key factors to pay attention to. The cottages are set up for memory care specifically and are built a specific way.