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Country Meadows offers memory support programs for Alzheimer’s, dementia patients

5 min read
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Lucille Walker, like all residents in Country Meadows' Connections Neighborhood, has a shadow box outside her room to display items that hold meaning for her.

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A trail allows residents to walk freely around the Connections’ Neighborhood at Country Meadows.

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Jessie Johnson, left, and Dottie Gossman shuck corn with other Connections’ Neighborhood residents at Country Meadows.

Sharon Szamanda was surprised when her mother, Kathleen Smith, 90, announced that she wanted to move to Country Meadows of South Hills after visiting a friend there on Easter Day three years ago.

It turned out to be a good decision, Szamanda believes.

Smith lived in an apartment in the independent living building on the 23-acre property in South Fayette Township for one year until dementia made it necessary for her to move to the retirement community’s assisted living building.

“Mom was not taking medications properly, she was getting confused, and she fell and tore her rotator cuff. Country Meadows helped us understand she couldn’t take care of herself, and so we moved her to assisted living two years ago,” said Szamanda, of New Stanton. “We’re very impressed with the care she receives. There are a lot of dignity issues that come with being elderly, and the staff cares about her dignity.”

Country Meadows offers Connections Memory Support Services, which provides programs and emotional support for Alzheimer’s and dementia residents and their families.

“People with Alzheimer’s and dementia are normal people just like you and me; they’re just fighting a battle every day. A very difficult battle,” said Maureen Sirianni, memory services coordinator at Country Meadows.

Residents with mild cognitive loss can participate in Connections Club, a program designed to alleviate feelings of frustration and anxiety that accompany early stage memory loss.

Sirianna said 21 residents belong to the Connections Club, which meets every morning to discuss the day’s events and activities, and members receive a calendar with options for brain fitness, physical fitness and spiritual activities they can participate in throughout the day in a structured environment.

They also take monthly trips to places like the Carnegie Museum of Art, which participates in the Museum of Modern Art’s “In the Moment” program for visitors with Alzheimer’s or other dementia; the Gateway Clipper, the Pittsburgh Aviary, and the Washington Wild Things. And residents also go on weekly lunch outings.

Last year, the Connections Club won the annual Bridgeville Rotary Club chili cook-off.

The interaction is important for Smith, who Szamanda said “volunteered for everything. She was a stay-at-home mom who was very involved, and when we kids grew up, she continued to have a very wide social circle with my father.”

Smith painted with the Bethel Park Arts Guild, organized golf tournaments, ran vacation Bible school and traveled the world with her husband.

“I think my mom would have deteriorated more quickly if she weren’t in the Connections Club,” said Szamanda. “She never sat around home, and she needs that stimulus. She loves doing kundalini yoga here, and the activities have been great for her cognitive awareness.”

Seniors with more serious memory loss can move into secured living areas in Country Meadows’ Connections Neighborhood, with secure entrances and exits. The building is designed to accommodate residents’ behavioral changes and to encourage independence. Residents have access to an enclosed garden, walking paths that all lead to a door, a putting green and a tool shed. Each apartment has a shadow box by the door so residents can personalize their entry.

The seniors also participate in many community service projects, including making sleeping mats from plastic bags for the homeless population.

“We want to connect them to who they were and who they are,” said Sirianni. “Just because you get old doesn’t mean you don’t have interests, or that your history and the things you’ve done don’t matter. We want the residents to share their history, their hobbies, their achievements. Their families trust us with their loved ones, and if we don’t give 120 percent and do all that we can for them, we shouldn’t sleep well at night.”

Country Meadows was the first U.S. organization authorized to use Validation Method, a philosophy that teaches family members not to contradict or correct a person’s view of reality. Instead, it encourages them to ask questions and listen to a person with memory loss in a way that acknowledges their point of view. For example, if an Alzheimer’s patient is talking about having dinner with her long-deceased mother, a loved one would not tell her that her mother had died.

“I think that without that program, which all of the staff members are trained in and use all the time, Country Meadows would be like just any other assisted living place,” said Szamanda. “That program has meant the world to keeping my mom connected. My mom’s dementia is advancing more now – for example, the days of the week mean nothing to her – and she’s on quite a journey now, but I trust them to help us get through it.”

Country Meadows offers an Alzheimers Association-endorsed support group that meets on the fourth Tuesday of each month at 6 p.m. For additional information, call 412-257-4566.

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