The secret to the success of CareOne’s Harmony Village memory care program is the close collaboration between specialists, nurses, and staff to deliver next-level care to its residents. CareOne’s team works tirelessly to cultivate a strong understanding of their personal background in addition to their unique abilities and behaviors. From there, the team develops highly personalized care plans.
Harmony Village at Hanover Township is a vibrant CareOne community dedicated to creating a comfortable and stimulating environment for their residents living with memory impairments.
Hear from our excited new team members about what they find the most rewarding in caring for residents at Hanover:
A Community Catered to Residents’ Needs
Harmony Village assisted living communities have a unique model where each neighborhood serves residents based on the progression of their condition (mild, moderate, or advanced). This model allows for highly trained staff members to hone in on the specific needs of each resident and organize programming based on their distinct abilities and disease progression.
“What makes the dementia specialist’s role so special is that our sole job is to build a deep connection and understanding of the residents, identify their specific needs are and help manage their behaviors. The dementia specialists then share that information on to the frontline staff whouse dementia care techniques to help residents manage their days.. This makes CareOne unique – it’s a team effort,” says Hanover’s new Memory Care Specialist Ulysses Biscaia.
Ulysses has more than 10 years of experience working with seniors with dementia, Alzheimer’s, and other memory impairments with a specialization in sub-acute rehab and long-term care. Grounded in the training from CareOne’s Director of Dementia Program Development Joan DiPaola and informed by the expertise of world-class Dementia Specialist Teepa Snow, Harmony Village staff and dementia specialists work 24/7 to aid and encourage residents in their communities. Put simply, this means carefully and compassionately observing resident patterns of behavior, trigger points and emotional responses to best understand their condition. Centered around these principles, the dementia specialist’s job is to make sure this expertise and personal knowledge informs each resident’s care.
Partnership in Care
From the community tour through admissions, CareOne supports caregivers throughout the process, working closely with them to understand residents’ needs and behaviors. At Hanover, we want caregivers to stay engaged and work closely with us in designing the best program for their loved one. Our new Building Administrator, Robert Fiorese, has worked for more than 20 years in senior living:
“Often times when families come to us, they’re in a crisis mode. They need help and they don’t know how to care for this person. This is their mom, their dad, or their loved one and they just don’t have the full knowledge of how to deal with them in their condition and have a lot of questions.”
Robert feels the most joy in being an empathetic ally to caregivers and getting their loved ones the care they need. This is especially true when caregivers feel apprehensive to put their loved ones in an assisted living community.
“We assure [caregivers] that this isn’t the final stage. They’re not dropping off your loved one – we’re here to help you reconnect and give them the safest level of independence possible,” he adds.
Activities & Engagement
Outside of aiding residents with daily living tasks such as hygiene, getting proper nutrition, and medication management, the Hanover team fosters a fun and interactive environment through thoughtful activity programming matched to residents’ cognitive abilities. Olivia Cozewith, the new director of sales and marketing, has a background as an activities director.
Group programming can range from playing games and socializing at the ice cream parlor to spring events on the outdoor patio as well as individual activities. At CareOne, we help residents connect with their previous interests through these activities.
“If we have a woman who used to knit lap blankets for hospice patients, we’ll introduce her to another resident who also used to knit. By bringing them together for activities, they form a friendship — if it’s a new friendship every day, that’s totally fine,” says Olivia.
Our staff builds strong relationships with residents and their families and are dedicated to developing creative programming to promote mental and emotional well-being. We also deliver around-the-clock care to help residents achieve the highest quality of life possible while relieving caregivers of their most challenging responsibilities. CareOne delivers this support so that caregivers can return to their role as a daughter, son, spouse, sister, or brother and get quality time back with their loved one.
