CarePartners Bonded Pairs program

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Welcome back everyone to Answers for Elders Radio Network, with Kelley Smith, vice president of Marketing and Sales for CarePartners Senior Living. And we have been talking this past hour about Alzheimer’s and dementia and care options, communication, education, all kinds of stuff. And of course we probably only got the top of the pinhead of all the information in Kelley Smith’s brain about all this. But I want to focus this final segment, Kelley, with you on CarePartners. You guys do an incredible job with memory care. Your brand of taking care of seniors, the whole cottages concept, is incredible. So why don’t we start there? Tell us a little bit about what unique about CarePartners when it comes to memory care.

– Well, I’ll tell you, the cottages design has been such a winner from the very beginning, and it allows residents autonomy because they each live in a little house, they have their own little bedroom, everybody has a bathroom, there’s common area, a kitchen, there’s usually they got cookies or bread or something going on in there to make it smell good all the time. And residents have snacks in the refrigerator. There’s activities and things going on. But they can go out to a beautiful, secure courtyard and enjoy being out in our beautiful weather. We have umbrella areas and undercover areas for them to sit outside and enjoy beautiful things. And they can visit other cottages, so if they have a friend that lives across the street, they can go visit, like a little village. But it works. It works, because they get to be outside, they get to they get to move. But also things that are that are brought in, the activities that are done, again we’ve talked a little bit about some of those, but those are the different things that they bring in for the residents that make such a big difference in their lives. You guys have brought those amazing pet therapy doodles in, which has been such a highlight. We’ve had music therapy come in, art therapy, just all kinds of things that enhance their lives.

– It is such a rewarding thing to see faces light up when they see a dog, or learning about music therapy and art therapy, and how these specialists can come into a community and you see that the light start to turn on in a brain. One time, not too long ago, I was up at Vineyard Park, Cottage Lane, upstairs, that was your designated memory care area, and there’s this lady that just was laying there in a chair. And several times, you know, we went around and she was just kind of despondent, and I walked up with my dog. Finally, I just said, I’m going to go just walk up and very quietly ask if she’d like to pet my dog. And she kind of looked at me and kind of scowled, and then I just reached out and I put my hand out, and she looked at me, and I started helping her pet my dog, Whidbey, and I could see the expression, she says, Oh, she’s so soft. I go, yes, she’s very soft. She’s very beautiful. So it was like that light bulb that came on and that miracle that we’ve been able to help, and with your help we can reach more people. And then you, guys, you do the cottages, and they’re small. Every  building has not very many residents.

– And that’s that’s the whole point. You want it to feel like it did back when they do go back in time at little house they lived in with them going and everybody has their own room and there were things going on. Get up in the morning, there’s coffee in the kitchen and that’s normal, right, the absolutely normal. It’s like a little house and and but again it works. It works because again you can also put people together as the community grows, you can put people together and houses that are cognitively growing together. And that tends to work really well as as well. It’s just it’s kind of neat to have, like you know, a barbecue or something going on and have all the rest of the neighbors and out in the courtyards and enjoying their neighborhood.

– And and that’s the big piece of it. It’s like it’s feeling like you’re not cooped up. I had a dementia expert not too long ago, say, you know how many times do communities, they locked them inside of a floor or whatever, and they’re on lockdown. They can’t go anywhere, they’re in one common room. But if they want to go out, instead of just holding him in, grab their arm and take them out for a little walk, give them the choice of doing what they want to do. And I think that’s really what you guys have created with your cottages on concept, is giving people the experiences that they’re craving. And I think that’s the most important thing. And it’s still gives them the ability for socialization, which I which we touched on earlier  to slow down the progress of dementa. If you’re in a community like that, the beauty of it is you have that ability to socialize, or you can go in your room and be by yourself. Right, so there’s that. There’s it’s all about choices.

– And isn’t that why people — let’s be honest — most people are afraid to move into a place like this is they’re afraid it’s gonna be like jail. Somebody’s gonna tell you win to pee, when to eat, win to shower, when to walk, when to get up? Meaning you won’t have any choices. That’s why we remind families too, It’s one thing they get worried about. No, mom didn’t do anything wrong, she’s not going to be in jail. It’s a secure environment, because she’s… Have you ever been to the Butterfly Room, Pacific Science Center? They have an egress and so you go in and then to this clean area, and then there’s a secure area where the butterflies are. Where are they in jail? No. The purpose of all that to keep those beautiful butterflies safe. So yes, we do have to keep it secure, because the last thing we want to do is make a phone call to let you know that we can’t find your mom.

– That’s the beauty of the cottages, they have that choice to go out there. You choose to go visit. They have the choice to go sit outside. They have the choice if they go in the kitchen and have hot chocolate. They can do whatever they want.

– That’s right. They want to they want to sandwich at three in the afternoon, someone’s going to make it for them. Again, yes, it has to be the right environment to allow them to continue to to have a happy life, and to be safe. But that doesn’t mean that we’re going to treat them like their inmates. There’s gonna be a lot of love and a lot of compassion, and we’re gonna spend time really getting to know them that we can make sure that the communication stays with them right up to the end.

– You know, given that experience of not feeling like you’re locked in, you know, and that’s the beauty of what your properties provide. I think that’s really amazing about your concept. So you have the Bonded Pair parents program, and in that you do have a memory care center, but they’re also connected with their loved one often. Explain to us how that works.

– Well, Bonded Pairs is for any couple where they’re safe together, and Bonded Pairs doesn’t have to be a married couple. It can be any bonded pair. We had shipsters, we’ve had a mother and daughter team. We don’t care who the pair is. Bonded pairs, bonded pair. So what that means is our goal to keep them together as long as possible. We’ll come into the room providing care. You know, we can do all the same things for that loved one that we do in memory care. Maybe there’s time for their haircut, and they gotta go run by the bank, but she’s just not having a bad day. They can take mom up to memory care. She can hang out with us for a couple of hours while he runs his errand he can’t come back and pick her up. So it works out really well. But at night, you know when when they’re going to sleep, and she’s right tucked in next to him and he’s not worried about what’s happening upstairs, and she’s not scared because she’s alone.

– So you also have expanded and purchased Lynden Manor in Whatcom County. So tell us a little bit about that community.

– Oh my gosh, what a beautiful community. We’ve already gotten the chance to make some improvements. Not that it needed a lot, but sometimes when you’ve been in a building for a long time, you don’t see things. You we had a chance to go and make some improvements. We’ve got a chance to get the therapy doodles up there, which has been exciting. We’ve got a lot of new things planned. We just did a really fun party for the residents, with a petting zoo and a band, and good food. The Seahawks Legends got to come visit. But it’s gorgeous and it has independent, assisted living, and memory here all right there on this gorgeous ground. And again they seem like all of other CarePartners properties. They do that that beautiful spend down. You don’t have to worry about, what am I gonna do if I run out of money? You just stay, have a great life, so let’s have fun. Let’s come on down. It’s a beautiful community.

– And then you purchased The Arbor in Bremerton, Washington.

– That’s another community that I’m just absolutely thrilled about. You’ve got the wonderful Lisa Carlock down there, our executive director of one of our absolute best. I got a chance to meet with them a little bit this morning, and they’re just amazing, the heart they have for those residents. That’s strictly memory care. It’s got a beautiful outside courtyard that they were talking about decorating for the holidays, and getting things exciting for the residents. They were talking about the new bread machines in there;  the residents were in there eating warm bread before breakfast this morning, having a ball.

– We have our our therapy doodles classes there this Saturday.

– They’ve got a lot of great things happening there, and just another great community we’re excited to offer that spend down.

– And three communities in Arizona.

– We’re building in Tuson, so it probably won’t be completed until March or April of next year. There’s Cottage Lane at Vineyard Park Surprise, Arizona. They don’t use the phrase independent living in Arizona, it’s more advanced care for assisted living, and then memory care, with all three in a one-story building that’s really easy to navigate. The building is fantastic, again, great care team, beautiful people. The rooms are amazing. I’d live there, it’s fantastic.

– We’re looking forward to doing a lot more to promote the Arizona market. Kelley, thank you so much for being with us today. If you are interested in supporting the Alzheimer’s Association, Kelley has mentioned it before to everyone, please go to Alzheimer’s.org, and you can sponsor a team. CarePartners has a team as well.

– Under different communities, Vineyard Park or the cottages, all the teams did different ones this year. But you can also make a donation. And don’t think a donation has to be hundreds of dollars. If everybody donated ten dollars, these guys could do so much.

– Yes. Absolutely, And in the meantime, Kelley, how do we reach you again? https://www.carepartnersliving.com is the best place to start.

– We’re very excited for each and every one of you listening today. Please have a safe, happy fall — it’s back in the Pacific Northwest, and we’ll be back next week. As I always say, be good to each other.