IOWA/ILLINOIS QUAD-CITIES - Medical advances are helping people live longer than ever before - but with this good news comes a healthcare concern. People are living well into their eighties and beyond, but 80% of those over age 80 experience some form of memory impairment. As more seniors develop such problems, the need to care for these problems must also be addressed.
Friendship Manor, a 5-Star Continuing Care Retirement Community (CCRC), has been working to create an optimal living environment for residents with memory impairment. After consulting leading experts in the field, they have developed and opened New Friendships Memory Care. These individualized apartment homes focus on the comfort, convenience, safety and security of your loved one.
Located at 1209 21st Ave., Rock Island, IL, Friendship Manor is situated on fourteen acres and includes four interconnected apartment buildings, plus the nationally acclaimed Silver Cross Health and Rehabilitation Pavilion and their convenient, indoor "Main Street." Assisted and Independent Living apartment homes may be leased for a monthly rental fee.
New Friendships is managed by Latoya McMillin, LPN, Memory Care Manager and Certified Memory Care Specialist. Team members who have been instrumental in the development of New Friendships include Ted Pappas, Jr., Chief Executive Officer/President; Lori Steiner, Director of Nursing; and Jeff Condit, Director of Development/Strategic Planning. Every member of their staff is enthusiastic about their eighth service division and is deeply devoted to its success.
Residents of New Friendships are individuals who are experiencing memory-related issues but are still quite ambulatory, although all will need help with different activities of daily living, such as eating, bathing, dressing, continence, grooming, and ambulation/transfers. Their goal is to help each resident enjoy their life longer while providing a stimulating environment to maintain their mental status as long as possible.
"This project has been evolving since the new millennium," said Pappas, "when we first considered how to integrate memory care into our continuum. Four years ago, we engaged the services of behavioral architect Dr. Margaret Calkins. She helped us prioritize how to go forward with memory care. She spent time with key staff members and provided a number of recommendations." Margaret, or Maggie as she is known to colleagues, is an architect and gerontologist with a background in psychology.
Pappas noted that Lori Steiner suggested looking at providing memory care in one of our current assisted living buildings. Thanks to that recommendation, the first floor of Building B is now New Friendships Memory Care.
Friendship Manor's extensive continuum of care makes them a Continuing Care Retirement Community, capable of serving residents with a wide range of needs. "We're the only CCRC in Illinois Quad-Cities," Pappas said. "New Friendships is our eighth service division."
The Daily Routine at New Friendships
New Friendships features 15 apartment homes and outside of each resident's quarters, by the door, is a locking memory box, in which special mementos and pictures of the resident can be kept. Residents enjoy a big-screen TV, an aquarium, a fireplace, a multi-stimulation craft room, and a beauty salon/barber shop. Comfort and safety are built into the unit: even the flooring, which looks like regular wood, is actually made from a softer, cushioned material with a gentle 'give' to it.
New Friendships staff are specifically trained to provide dementia care. This specialized training utilizes the practices that promote the principles of person-centered care. "We provide a trained director manager and trained staff," Pappas said. "We are proud to say that all our residents will have a place here, should they need memory care. If their life takes that path, we will be ready for them and they will not have to go elsewhere."
Therapy for the residents of New Friendships is designed to help slow down memory loss. "We use art, music, and even aroma to stimulate their mental processes," McMillin said. Residents interact with a recreation therapist and engage in a wide variety of activities, from cooking to getting the mail to using electronic tablets.
Residents in New Friendships are encouraged to make decisions and engage in activities. At meal-time, the residents dine family-style in Café MJ's. Servers present them with selections and residents choose what they want.
Residents also enjoy a variety of outdoor activities in Friendship Courtyard, which features several fountains and a garden of forget-me-nots. "We are grateful to more than two-hundred donors who helped to make New Friendships a reality," said Condit. "The donations for the courtyard totaled $100,000. Plus, an additional half-million dollars of donated equity was provided for New Friendships, enabling the $2.5 million project to become a reality."
Friendship Manor is a faith-based, non-profit, 501(c)(3), charitable Continuing Care Retirement Community founded by The International Order of The King's Daughters and Sons, Illinois Branch. For more information, call (309) 786-9667 or visit www.friendshipmanor.org.
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