A Difference in Alzheimer’s Care
AutumnGrove Cottage is a sixteen bed, private-pay, assisted living home specializing in care for senior adults with Alzheimer’s disease and other dementia-related illnesses. AutumnGrove Cottage offers the smoothest transition from one’s own home to one that offers assistance with the activities of daily living. Unlike other “institutional” choices available today, we makes it possible for residents to enjoy the benefits of 24×7 care in a familiar, homelike environment.
AutumnGrove Cottage is unlike other assisted living facilities in the market today. To use an analogy, AutumnGrove Cottage is to the assisted living industry what a bed and breakfast is to the hotel industry. It is smaller, more “home-like” in design and appearance and much more personal. With only sixteen residents, the staff, residents and families get to know each other in a very personal and intimate way. The relationships that form in here would not be possible in a larger, less personal 100 bed facility.
Not only is the atmosphere unique, the care is unique as well. The staff-to-resident ratio is over two times higher than most traditional assisted living facilities. Many facilities are not equipped to handle the special needs of their residents with Alzheimer’s (such as wandering). Because a person with Alzheimer’s can be disruptive in a traditional living environment, demand is growing for specialized care custom-tailored to this rapidly emerging segment of the population.
There are many aspects that make AutumnGrove Cottage a unique concept, but the two most important differences are size and focus.
The smaller size makes a significant difference in quality of care in several ways. Here are some of the ways limiting our size to 16 beds makes AutumnGrove Cottage a totally different approach to meeting your loved one’s needs:
- Homelike Environment – From the moment you drive into the driveway, our cottage looks and feels like someone’s private home. As you walk into the great room with the attached and open kitchen, This homelike environment is one of the cornerstones in the AutumnGrove Cottage belief that people should be able to age in the same manner they are accustomed to living.
- Personalized Care – AutumnGrove Cottage caregivers are considered “universal workers”. Their primary function isn’t reduced to one job function; they are responsible for overall resident care, regardless of function. This means a caregiver is involved in all aspects of our residents care through out their day from grooming, bathing, doing activities with them to preparing and assisting them with meals. This allows our caregivers to get to know the residents preferences and to provide more personalized care for our residents.
- Deep Relationships – Since an AutumnGrove Cottage only cares for 16 residents, staff and residents get to know each other in a very personal and intimate way. As the disease progresses and a person loses his or her ability to communicate verbally, it becomes critical to know a person well in order to meet their needs. Another benefit to this small size is the deep relationships families form with one another. With the common bond of being impacted by Alzheimer’s, family members become friends and often become an informal support group for one another.
