Emeritus at Pikesville
1840 Reisterstown Road,  Pikesville, MD 21208

Alzheimer's and related Dementia

The Emeritus Alzheimer's and Dementia Special Care Program is designed with a clear understanding of the disease process to provide superior and individual resident focused care. We know our residents intimately by spending time with them and their loved ones to build a personal biography. This becomes the basis for our resident focused care.

Meeting your loved one's needs:
At Emeritus communities, our caregivers focus on the resident's wants and needs based on their biography. We strive to address all their needs with a personalized supportive environment. Understanding the resident's past experiences and personal preferences allows us to provide for the physical, social, emotional, cultural, spiritual and functional needs of our residents. We do this through an on going process of gathering information from family members and significant others. We honor and validate our resident's feelings and strive to help them be the best they can be that day. That is the Emeritus resident focused philosophy.

Achieving the best in everyday:
The Emeritus Alzheimer's and Dementia Special Care Program is successful through extensive training and genuine caring by our staff. Emeritus incorporates Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs theory, which is meeting all human needs to achieve our best everyday. Caregivers understand that by meeting resident's basic needs of food, feeling safe, loved and validated to build self-esteem, residents are happier. Staff members use continual meaningful interactions and activities, joining in the resident's moments to achieve the best in everyday for the residents.

Validation Techniques:
We use validation techniques to accept and join the resident's reality or world. This type of interaction focuses on understanding and accepting the resident's interpretation of their surroundings and sense of self within the framework of their reality. We spend time with your loved one to help them feel okay, feel safe and feel good about that particular moment.

Training:
We also train our caregivers to understand how Alzheimer's affects the brain and understand what causes behavior. With that understanding, our caregivers join residents in their moment rather than bring them into our reality. We don't label typical behaviors associated with Alzheimer's disease and related dementia, our staff members search to find the unmet human need that might be triggering behavior. Caregivers know that behavior is communication and work to validate a resident's current feelings, striving always to focus on our resident's needs and wants.

Personalized Environments:
Using the biographies of residents, our communities create environments that are familiar to them. Communities build memory stations for residents with a place to go that feels familiar to them to rekindle memories of their lives and to create activities. It may be as simple as a table with everyday tools, or a teachers chalk board. We help residents feel successful and give them a sense of belonging. Emeritus caregivers join with your loved one and family to create a familiar and comfortable environment in their individual apartment as well the community environment. That is the foundation for our resident focused care, knowing our residents' needs intimately.