A Massachusetts-based senior living provider is partnering with a New York-based Alzheimer’s and dementia caregiving organization to provide staff training on best practices for caring with residents with cognitive impairments.
LCB Senior Living’s three Fairfield County, CT, communities — The Residence at Summer Street in Stamford, The Residence at Selleck’s Woods in Darien and The Residence at Westport — will participate in the training from CaringKind, formerly the Alzheimer’s Association New York City chapter.
Under the partnership, CaringKind dementia specialists will provide training so that employees can host support groups for residents’ family members and unpaid caregivers “dedicated to serving and loving someone with memory loss.” The partnership supplements LCB Senior Living’s Reflections Memory Care program, which focuses on empathy, expression and mindfulness by providing enrichment experiences for residents.
Amber Evans, LCB director of memory care and resident engagement services, told McKnight’s Senior Living that the work primarily will be with the Reflections Memory Care directors, but others within the communities also will have access to the resource.
“This added support team will be an inspirational force to support the Reflections Memory Care directors to supplement their service for all affected by memory loss, such as the greater population of the residences, but also of the community at large,” Evans said.
Memory care directors took a full day of training in effective support group facilitation and will have weekly coaching sessions with the CaringKind team.
“It’s about caregiving that connects us to a community of people, not just a network of resources, that empowers us with today’s solutions when we need them,” CaringKind President and CEO Eleonora Tornatore-Mikesh said.
LCB Senior Living CEO Michael Stoller said the new collaboration “will continue to push the standards of resident care forward.”
“Caring for people with Alzheimer’s disease and other forms of dementia often comes with its own unique set of challenges,” Evans said. “The purpose of this partnership with CaringKind is to provide our Reflections directors with the necessary resources and support that allow them to offer the best possible care for our residents.”
