{"id":11557,"date":"2021-08-30T18:00:36","date_gmt":"2021-08-31T01:00:36","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/lesliedinaberg.com\/wordpress\/?p=11557"},"modified":"2021-08-30T18:00:43","modified_gmt":"2021-08-31T01:00:43","slug":"stimulating-senses-to-stimulate-wellness-at-villa-alamar-and-alexander-gardens","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lesliedinaberg.com\/wordpress\/?p=11557","title":{"rendered":"Stimulating Senses to Stimulate Wellness at Villa Alamar and Alexander Gardens"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>An innovative sensory stimulation program\u00a0\u2014 involving nature, scents, sounds, and colors\u00a0to constantly provide pleasant sensory stimuli\u00a0that promote wellness \u2014 helps assisted-living\u00a0and memory-care residents at Villa Alamar (villaalamar.com<\/a>) and Alexander Gardens (alexandergardensal.com<\/a>)\u00a0maintain their high spirits and positive outlook.<\/p>\n

Developed\u00a0by owner\/partner\/administrator Mitch Leichter<\/a>, this Sensory\u00a0Integration Program for the Advanced Stages of Dementia is\u00a0seeing great success.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur staff is consistently engaging the residents in a proactive\u00a0manner, where in the past it was reactive,\u201d reported\u00a0Leichter. \u201cThe staff has learned how to interpret body language
\nfrom nonverbal residents and have implemented\u00a0appropriate reminiscent and redirection opportunities\u00a0predicated on sensor stimuli criteria. In many incidents, an\u00a0increase in medication has not been needed for some residents\u00a0experiencing behavioral situations, and in other cases,\u00a0medications have actually been decreased.\u201d<\/p>\n

Leichter explained more about the program to me below,\u00a0and what follows is a portion of our conversation, edited for\u00a0clarity and length.<\/p>\n

Do you use the sensory integration techniques\u00a0for both memory-care and senior assisted-living\u00a0patients?<\/strong> We\u2019ve really focused a lot on Villa Alamar,\u00a0which is our memory care<\/a>. It\u2019s a translucent theory that can\u00a0apply to anyone, but I\u2019ve had more success in the implementation\u00a0with memory-care dementia residents in the years
\nthat I\u2019ve rolled it out. This is really nice to see the effect.<\/p>\n

What are some of the different impacts with people\u00a0in memory care?<\/strong> The whole focus of sensory integrations\u00a0is to rethink traditional care. If you try to create a traditional
\nactivity program with a resident that has dementia, you\u2019re\u00a0making poor assumptions. You can\u2019t assume they are cognitively\u00a0able to do it, for example, if you say \u201cmove right; stand
\nup; sit down.\u201d\u00a0We have a huge, beautiful courtyard at Villa Alamar, and\u00a0we let nature be our program. We have wind chimes, bird\u00a0feeders, fountains, gardens, our furniture is multicolored for\u00a0sensory pickup, and we also have classical music playing. The\u00a0theory is you want to create a Zen moment for your dementia\u00a0residents.\u00a0If Mrs. Johnson is sitting down by the fountain and she\u2019s\u00a0watching the birds eating out of the bird feeder, you want to\u00a0create that Zen moment, and then you want to perpetuate it.\u00a0Even at lunch time. Rather than stop her from getting in the\u00a0moment, we work together, and we allow that moment to\u00a0perpetuate. And we\u2019ll bring lunch to her and not upset what\u00a0we tried to do to begin with.<\/p>\n

By doing that, we can decrease the behavioral medication,\u00a0because we\u2019re not moving them around. The\u00a0staff has been taught to be part of the program,\u00a0not depart from the program. We let\u00a0nature do the work, and it\u2019s just magnificent.<\/p>\n

That sounds like a very humane\u00a0approach. Does it help everyone?<\/strong> I\u00a0have incredible employee retention across\u00a0both of my properties. Because if you walk\u00a0into a place that smells good and sounds\u00a0good and looks good, and the staff realizes\u00a0that I\u2019m not a corporation \u2014 we\u2019re independently\u00a0owned \u2014 they know that we\u2019re\u00a0focusing on a wellness program. And it\u2019s\u00a0not just a wellness program for residents; it\u2019s\u00a0a wellness program for the employees as well. And it works.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s the same philosophy in a different situation that we\u00a0use with the residents, and also when the families come in.\u00a0It basically slows your cadence down. It slows your heart
\nrate down, it slows you down, and that\u2019s the whole theory of\u00a0sensory integration.\u00a0The term I use is \u201cholistic modalities,\u201d and the fact is that\u00a0we can reduce the amount of behavioral medications by\u00a0modifying our program. It works wonders.<\/p>\n

Is there anything else we should know?<\/strong> When a family\u00a0has to place a loved one in memory care or assisted living,\u00a0there\u2019s a lot of guilt and anxiety. Our job is to provide the
\nsensory integration approach so that they can calm down\u00a0and also feel good about their choice. It\u2019s been remarkable at\u00a0both of our properties \u2014 we get the comments all the time.\u00a0\u201cWhat\u2019s that smell?\u201d And \u201cOh my gosh, look at that bird\u00a0feeder, and that wind chime sounds magnificent. When can\u00a0I move in?\u201d So I hear that and I\u2019m thinking, \u201cOkay, good, it\u2019s\u00a0working.\u201d [Laughs.] We want to be holistic in our approach\u00a0and not force medication onto anybody unnecessarily.<\/p>\n

See villaalamar.com<\/a> and alexandergardensal.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a> Originally published in The Santa Barbara Independent<\/a> on August 12, 2021. Cover photo by Erick Madrid. To read this special section as it originally appeared in print, click here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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