JACKSON, MICHIGAN – Alzheimer’s affects over 6 million people in the United States and that number is increasing daily. Recognized as the 6th leading cause of death, with no known prevention, treatment or cure, the caregiver must find ways to creatively connect with their Alzheimer’s residents individualized needs on a daily basis. Vista Grande Villa on Springport Road in Jackson is implementing a new program, Awakening the Subconscious of the Alzheimer’s Patient program (ASAP), which combines habilitative care with sensory influencers that allow the Alzheimer’s patient to experience the positive feelings and emotions that have been stored with in their subconscious for many years. According to the program developer, Pam Reese, “ASAP provides the caregivers with the necessary tools to recognize the resident’s individualized needs on a daily basis, build upon meaningful relationships with their residents, and ensure the memory care atmosphere is conducive to maintaining the residents current capabilities.”
The traditional memory care model focuses on tasks to accomplish during the day. The ASAP Memory Care program is focused on a new and exciting approach focused on emotions, and the relationships between the resident and the caregiver. The Alzheimer’s resident’s ability to experience and maintain emotions, as well as to accurately perceive others’ emotions, remains intact right up until nearly the end. Caregivers and staff have a profound influence, good or bad, on the emotional state of individuals with Alzheimer’s disease. Patients may not remember a recent interaction, but have an innate ability to know how those interactions made them feel. People with dementia often become amazingly good at reading and responding to others emotional states. Care partners’ body language, facial expressions, and tone of voice add up to a strong message clearly received – often despite what is said in words.
Vista Grande Villa has a 23 one and two-bedroom suite specialized memory care unit as part of their Assisted Living community. According to Kerstan Tansley, RN, Director, “We focus our staff training to tap into their own emotions and the importance of how those emotions transfer to the resident they provide care”. She goes onto to say, “we work with the resident family to know as much as possible about each resident so we can incorporate specific emotional memories into our interactions with each resident.”
The ASAP program is part of the Habilitation approach to Alzheimer’s care where staff learn to fill in the missing pieces of the resident’s daily life. According to Pam Reese, “we take into consideration environmental enhancements including specific colors and sounds to create a peaceful and pleasant atmosphere along with the tailored feelings and emotions incorporated into the ASAP approach”.
Vista Grande Villa is a 318-unit non-profit senior living community offering independent living, assisted living, memory care, and skilled nursing care. “Since 1972, Vista Grande Villa has been committed to providing the best senior living experience in Jackson, Michigan and we are continuing that legacy by enhancing the quality of our memory care programs utilizing the ASAP approach,” said Vista Grande Villa Executive Director Chelsea Eisele. “We recently began our management arrangement with Kauhale Healthcare Management who is bringing new programs to Vista Grande Villa along with over $5 million investment in improvements over the next 2 years.”
For more information on the ASAP program and Vista Grande Villa please visit the community at 2251 Springport Road, Jackson, visit their website or give them a call at (517) 7876-0222.
About Vista Grande Villa
Founded in 1972, Vista Grande Villa has been providing residential and care services to seniors in the Jackson region for more than 50 years. With its new management under Kauhale Healthcare, Vista Grande Villa ensures that the senior community will experience quality services and care while embracing individual choice and independence. For more information, visit: https://vistagrandevilla.com.
About Pam Reese, RN
Pam Reese is a Registered Nurse with over two decades of experience managing Senior Living Clinical Operations including skilled nursing, assisted living, and memory care. She has developed and implemented evidenced-based policy and procedures and standards of practice along with created training modalities and patient-centered care cultures. She has been ultimately responsible for the quality of care and services of thousands of patients and the performance of licensed professionals and certified staff.
Pam’s world was turned upside down when her ‘mom was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s. While soliciting the feelings and emotions of her mom, Pam knew that in spite of losing declarative memory, her mom still had the ability to feel positively and elicit the appropriate emotions. Pam found that Habilitative Care was the only solution. Having personally experienced the challenges of caring for her own mother with Alzheimer’s she developed the ASPA program. The ASAP program provides training on emotional contagions between the caregivers and residents and the abilities to create a positive quality of life and care for the residents and families.
Pam is a Governor appointed member to The Alzheimer’s Disease and Related Dementias Task Force established by Amended Senate Bill 24 (133rd Ohio General Assembly).
About Kauhale Healthcare Management
Founded in 2021, Kauhale Healthcare Management (kauhalehealth.com) is a Midwest-based firm led by five principals with a combined 130 years of experience in senior living/integrated post-acute care operations, acquisitions, operational transfers, and development. Their team has experience across 20 U.S. states, including management responsibilities for more than 300 stand alone Independent Living (IL), Assisted Living (AL), Memory Care (MC), Skilled Nursing Facility (SNF), and Continuing Care Retirement Community (CCRC) properties.