Episcopal Retirement Services’ Marjorie P. Lee retirement community in Cincinnati’s Hyde Park neighborhood recently completed a nine-month research project that aims to elevate best practices for dementia care nationwide.

The researchers from the Alzheimer’s Association and University of Washington in coming months will make recommendations about methods to improve dementia care. From among 1,700 retirement communities in Ohio, researchers hope to involve 80 campuses – 40 nursing homes and 40 assisted-living communities – that care for people with Alzheimer’s disease or other forms of dementia.

A wreath for a Memory Care resident at Marjorie P. Lee.

Further tweaking memory care

During the nine months of work, a multi-disciplinary team from Marjorie P. Lee developed new ways to increase meaningful engagement among memory-care residents – and among residents from other levels of living such as independent living, their families, and staff.

Information about the techniques Marjorie P. Lee uses to care for residents will be used to help employees of other retirement campuses nationwide. In the meantime, Marjorie P. Lee’s staff already has found ways to further improve its own high-quality, person-centered care of residents across the disease spectrum.

Team members worked during the project with Shawn Johnson, a care-community coach with the Alzheimer’s Association. Johnson and MPL Health Services Administrator Anthony Williams both cite two of the more significant tweaks Marjorie P. Lee staff made:

MPL's research team, from left: Alix Scruggs (Resident Assistant on Kirby and Luther); Health Services Administrator Anthony Williams; Megan Graetorex on the Zoom screen (Life Enrichment assistant for Kirby and Luther); Hannah McCarren (Memory Support Household Coordinator); and Katrina Traylor (Service Coordinator). Not pictured but participated: Larceida Beatty (Resident Assistant at the Kirby and Luther households). The Graeters ice cream was provided them because their team did great work.

Team members worked during the project with Shawn Johnson, a care-community coach with the Alzheimer’s Association. Johnson and MPL Health Services Administrator Anthony Williams both cite two of the more significant tweaks Marjorie P. Lee staff made:

• They had residents of the Kirby and Luther memory-care households make wreaths – some with help from their families – for their apartments’ front doors. The wreaths show interesting things about residents’ personalities or pasts, such as things they enjoy, or pictures of their younger years, their families, and favorite pets.
• Staff ‘shout-out’ boards were created to give team members, residents, and family members opportunities to the celebrate the staff for jobs they did well.

Wreaths and recognition

Williams said the residents loved the wreaths, “because they really showed their personality. And other residents would often go by and comment on the wreaths. It really helped the residents get to know one another.”

Just by themselves, the conversations the wreaths started among residents, or between them and team members, are a form of memory therapy, because such discussions are a form of mental exercise that can combat dementia.

A wreath for a Memory Care resident at Marjorie P. Lee.

The wreaths “create conversation, which then can lead to meaningful engagement, which is a purpose of this project,” Johnson said. A key focus is finding ways to help memory-care staff interact with residents for two reasons – to give the employees more meaning in their work life, and to ensure residents have meaningful engagement with others.

In the discussions that led to the shout-out boards, “We really looked at staff recognition, and how we could recognize staff – and how they could recognize each other, and better appreciate each other,” Williams said.

Johnson offered examples.

“They can write notes, or kudos to each other, such as ‘Thank you for taking such good care of so-and-so,’ or, ‘Thank you for staying late’ – whatever that may be,” he said.

A 'shout out' board that recognizes team members' great work at Marjorie P. Lee.

But also, “family members can write notes to staff also, which I think is very important,” Williams added. “Because staff don’t hear a lot of times from families, and so, when a family member writes something about you, I think you take great pride in that.”

There was another benefit to Marjorie P. Lee’s staff participating in the research, Williams said: It gave them an opportunity to “really take the time and step back and look at best practices.”

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.