After Laura Dolle’s father passed away, her mother’s memory lapses became more noticeable. They caused Laura and others to worry her Mom no longer could live independently.

Without her husband, Mom Betty Zwicky was lonely, and hesitated to leave her apartment. Laura also was concerned that people with memory issues sometimes wander off and become lost.

Laura is delighted her mother now lives in a memory care community at Marjorie P. Lee. She has made friends, engages in enjoyable SAIDO memory-strengthening exercises, and receives the quality of care her family became accustomed to when she lived independently at Episcopal Retirement Services’ Deupree House. Both Marjorie P. Lee and Deupree House are in Cincinnati’s Hyde Park neighborhood.

“It has been, honestly, wonderful,” Laura said.

A reputation for quality care

“The reason I decided on Marjorie P Lee is that she was at Deupree, and it was really under the same umbrella (of ERS),” Laura said. “We were so happy with Deupree that when we felt the need for memory care, we really didn't look anywhere else.”

“I have friends that have parents in other places, and talking to them, we just felt like this was the best place to be.”

Her mother enjoys “many, many activities,” Laura said. “She's met a lot of new friends. She still really grieving the loss of my dad, but there's other things that kind of keep her occupied, and as happy as she can be.”

“It's kind of the perfect place. So we've been really happy with her being here.”

On a typical day when Laura arrives for a visit, someone is in the apartment with Betty, “making sure she’s safe,” Laura said, pointing out the loving care nurses and aides give her mother. 

“I'd say what my mom likes best about living at Marjorie P. Lee is the friends she's made,” Laura said. “She has a really good friend, Jean. And they do SAIDO together. I think that's a wonderful thing to help with memory.”

In 2013, ERS and Marjorie P. Lee were trained to become the first aging services organization in the country licensed to implement SAIDO. Studies have found SAIDO, which uses simple reading and simple math in a positive environment, increases blood flow to the brain, and tends to improve cognitive function.

Less stress for the family

Having Betty at Marjorie P. Lee has allowed Laura to spend more quality time with her. They don’t have to worry about doing laundry or cleaning her apartment. Marjorie P. Lee team members handle that for them, allowing Laura to simply be Betty’s daughter, rather than her care partner. 

“I'm not worried when I go out of town,” Laura said. “It's relieved stress for me in that I'm not worried. I know if my mom should fall, someone will find her, and she'll get the care she needs. When she was independent, if she would fall, it could be a while.”

“Her apartment’s always clean; they clean it once a week. They do her laundry,” Laura said. “Everyday activities that we used to do, she doesn't have to do anymore, or worry about them.”

One of Laura’s friends who had a parent who lived on another retirement campus warned her: “When she goes into the memory care and they do her laundry, make sure you label her clothes” so they aren’t mistakenly sent to another resident. 

Laura decided, “’I'm not doing that.’ And I didn't, and there's never a problem. it's things that I just don't worry about.”

Feelings of safety, and quality care

Laura also was cautioned about possessions going missing on other retirement campuses. But, “I have absolutely no fear of anything going missing or any concerns about that at all,” Laura said.

The staff has has “just been so kind to my mother, which I don't think I could ask for anything more,” she said. “The nurses and the aides have just been just so kind and they they all know her name, they know what personality, they know what she likes and she doesn't like.”

Laura said she can’t think of a better place for her mother to be: “I can’t. Truly,” she said. ““I don't mean to sound – ‘Everything's great’ -- but it just is.”

Marjorie P. Lee, a premier retirement community, is a continuing care retirement community (CCRC), meaning residents move into independent-living apartments, but can transition to assisted living, Memory Care or skilled nursing situations if the need arises.

To schedule a tour of Marjorie P. Lee, contact Jennifer Schlotbom at 513-533-5000 or jschlotbom@erslife.org.