Generations Senior Living at Lewiston has done a rehaul to one of their memory care cottages to provide a solution to an underserved memory care need for Lewiston’s growing 65+ population. Generations Senior Living at Lewiston understands the need to create a safe, yet homelike atmosphere for residents suffering from memory loss.
DailyFly spoke to Ashley Stephenson, Executive director at Generations at Lewiston, Generations has recently reopened one of their four memory care cottages after a remodel. According to Stephenson, this cottage is one of two secured memory care units in the city. Generation’s newly updated memory care cottage can house about 15 residents, both permanent residents as well as hospice residents. The memory care residents have access to three meals a day as well as snacks, unlimited visitation from friends and family, a secure outdoor area, and in-house and out-of-house events. Generations at Lewiston’s new cottage can accommodate couples in their housing, even if only one person qualifies for memory care. They do not have any Medicaid beds available in this new cottage, however. The facility is always staffed with at least one faculty member. The residents have access to a primary care doctor. The newly refreshed cottage houses a single one-bedroom unit and multiple studios, large studios and deluxe studios. Layouts of all of these can be found on Generations’ website. Some units have showers in their bathroom, but all residents have access to a shared shower.
To make the reopening of the fourth cottage a reality, the team did a deep clean of the facility, re-stained surfaces, and put in new floors. Six new employees were brought on to staff the cottage adequately. Stephenson emphasized that understanding the needs of each of their residents is important to Generations at Lewiston. They take special care to meet different needs, for example, in their memory cottages all name plates are placed on the bottom half of the door. According to Stephenson, many people with dementia no longer look up, so it is important to keep the name plates in a location they will easily spot them.
Along with their memory care units, Generations Senior Living at Lewiston offers other housing. They have 20 units assigned for assisted living. These units are not secured and allow their residents to come and go. These residents still have access to medication help, meals, snacks, and events and outings.
Respite care is also offered at Generations. Generations will house both assisted living and memory care residents short term when family needs the help. Their respite care is a minimum of 30 days, the resident comes to a fully furnished room, and is placed in the appropriate facility. Respite care rooms are an option as space is available.
Generations Senior Living at Lewiston works hard to create a comfortable space for your loved ones. Although moving your elders into an assisted living facility can be a hard decision, many times it is an important one for their safety. When asking Stephenson what she would want everyone to know, she said not to wait until it’s too late to bring your loved one to an assisted living facility. She has seen too many cases where it becomes an emergency, or someone has lost a loved one due to not getting them into proper housing soon enough.