Posts Tagged ‘Dementia’

The SEASPAR EAGLES will join Encore residents for a Veteran’s Day celebration from 1:30 – 2:30 p.m. Thursday, Nov. 11, at The Birches Assisted Living, 215  55th St., Clarendon Hills. A Patriotic Bingo game will take place.

Veterans Day is an annual American holiday venerating men and women who have served in the military. Both a state holiday and a federal holiday in all states, Veterans Day is celebrated on 11th day in November. It is commemorated as Remembrance Day or Armistice Day in other part of the world. Veterans Day is held on the anniversary of signing of Armistice that ended World War I. The main hostilities of World War I were properly finished at 11th hour of 11th Day of 11th Month of 1918 with Germany signing the Armistice.

“We are delighted to welcome the SEASPAR EAGLES,” said Jackie Raschke, director of Encore and Dementia Services at The Birches. “Our Encore residents are looking forward to the visit.”

Located in Downers Grove, the South East Association for Special Parks and Recreation (SEASPAR) partners with many organizations – including The Birches – to offer cooperative recreation programs. By sharing resources with these organizations, SEASPAR is able to provide service to a wider range of individuals with disabilities.

EAGLES stands for Enhancing Adult Growth through Lifestyle Education and Service. It is a community-based program to assist young adults with disabilities transition from high school to adult life in the communities they live. For information about the EAGLES, call Laura Christensen at 1-630-789-6666, Ext. 115.

Encore is a secure neighborhood within The Birches. Encore’s services have been designed to make life easier and more meaningful for people with dementia. The staff believes in providing and promoting feelings of attachment to others, inclusion in a group, identity as a person, comfort and occupation.

For more information about the event or about Encore, call Jackie Raschke at 630-570-6175 or visit: http://www.birches.net.

The Alzheimer’s Foundation of America (AFA) awarded its “Excellence in Care Dementia Program of Distinction” status to Encore, part of The Birches Assisted Living located at 215 55^th St., Clarendon Hills. Nationally, only a select number of assisted living facilities have achieved AFA’s standard of excellence for facilities that provide care to individuals with Alzheimer’s disease or related illnesses. 

The Birches Assisted Living provides care to 32 residents living in its memory care unit which is called Encore. Jackie Raschke of Brookfield is Encore’s director of Encore and Dementia Services.

“It is such an honor to receive this designation,” Raschke said. “We educate ourselves in as many things that are offered out there to create the best place for our residents.”

The Birches Assisted Living utilizes the Montessori Method of engaging individuals with Alzheimer’s disease or a related dementia in non-failure activities. Cameron Camp, a senior research scientist at the forefront of examining the usage of the Montessori Method with individuals with Alzheimer’s disease, has found that this philosophy reduces agitation, aimless wandering and loss of attention, and changes the way people with the brain disorder feel about themselves.

“There is no right or wrong in a Montessori activity” Raschke said. “The goal is to engage, not correct. The activities are planned to match the person’s abilities so that the activity is challenging enough to be interesting and straightforward enough to be successful.”

“The Birches Assisted Living, including our Encore program for memory care, is a place to live, not to die,” said James K. Curto, executive director of The Birches Assisted Living. “We strive to lead the way with world-class living for our residents who live with Alzheimer’s disease or related dementias.”

Excellence in Care

Excellence in Care is the first national program involving comprehensive standards, on-site evaluation and consultation to promote continual performance improvement for dementia care settings, such as assisted living and skilled nursing facilities, continuum of care residential communities, and adult day programs.

AFA’s 50 Excellence in Care specialists in various regions of the U.S. conducted on-site evaluations, which assessed a setting’s physical environment, safety procedures, program activities, staff-client interaction, and dementia care training for staff and families.

“Excellence in Care makes a bold statement which reaffirms the quality of care these dementia care settings provide and encourage other settings nationwide to reach for this standard of excellence,” said Eric J. Hall, AFA’s chief executive officer.

The groundbreaking Excellence in Care initiative was designed with input from the Avila Institute of Gerontology, an AFA member organization, as well as other AFA member agencies, national organizations and industry experts.

For more information about Encore at The Birches Assisted Living, visit http://www.birches.net or call 630-789-1135, or for more information about Excellence in Care, visit http://www.excellenceincare.org or call 866-AFA-8484.