Alzheimer’s care has improved by every measure in the three decades that Megan Carnarius has devoted to the memory care field.
Everything from the color schemes in memory care facilities to the sensitivity of how family members treat someone with Alzheimer’s is different today, said Carnarius, author of the book, “A Deeper Perspective on Alzheimer’s and Other Dementias.”
“Watching memory care over the years, I am amazed at how many things have changed for the good,” said Carnarius, who also is the founder of Boulder-based Memory Care Consulting. Her consulting firm, which she founded in 2016, provides expertise to developers and operators on building design, programming systems and corporate and staff training.
The Senior Housing & Care Conference starts at noon April 17. It is sponsored by CREJ.
Carnarius will share her knowledge and expertise on Alzheimer’s and memory care as the guest speaker at the 2018 Senior Housing and Care Conference and Expo the afternoon of April 17.
The conference, which starts at noon at the Hyatt Regency Aurora-Denver Conference Center, is sponsored by the Colorado Real Estate Journal. It will be the largest senior housing conference in the Rocky Mountain region this year.
In addition to attracting panel members who represent a who’s who in the senior housing industry, at the conference Carnarius will share her in-depth and institutional knowledge of how Alzheimer’s and memory care has evolved nationally and in the Boulder-Denver region.
The conference, and her keynote address, comes in the wake of a doubling of memory care assisted living inventory in Colorado over the past few years.
From 2016 through this year, memory care bed capacity in Colorado will increase by nearly 1,500 beds in 39 new properties.
“The awareness of people with Alzheimer’s is so much greater today,” Carnarius told me.
Megan Carnarius, author and Alzheimer’s expert, will be a keynote speaker at the April 17 Senior Housing Conference & Expo sponsored by CREJ.
“Twenty-five years ago, people really were afraid of people with Alzheimer’s or some other form of dementia,” she said.
“They really didn’t know how to talk about it,” Carnarius continued. “Today, everyone has been touched by someone with Alzheimer’s, whether it is your father, grandfather or someone else in your family.”
The diagnosis and treatment of people with Alzheimer’s continues to make great strides, she noted.
The memory care treatment centers themselves have improved immensely, and not just for the quality of the care but in little ways, too.
“When they first started designing units in memory care centers, every wall was beige,” Carnarius said. “Now, we realize the colors and visuals on the walls have a very dramatic effect on people suffering from Alzheimer’s or dementia, so even things like the color of the walls have changed.”
There also is far more natural light in today’s memory care centers, which is very important to the well-being of those with Alzheimer’s, she noted.
Carnarius, a license massage therapist has long incorporated slow massages as a way of comforting people suffering from Alzheimer’s or other form of dementia.
“I have to kind of laugh to myself when people tell me they are using massage,” Carnarius said. “I introduced that to Boulder in 1989-90.”
Education and training today even goes beyond the centers themselves, she said.
“Denver, Boulder and Fort Collins are becoming what is known as dementia-friendly cities,” she said.
That means that people who work at places like banks and restaurants are trained to deal with someone who might wander in and is showing signs of confusion, and might be suffering from dementia or Alzheimer’s, she explained.
She added that the Colorado chapter of the Alzheimer’s Association “has a national reputation as being one of the best chapters in the country. That has really helped in educating people and businesses. We are very fortunate to have such a strong chapter.”
The challenge facing the industry, in the Denver area and nationwide, is the cost of developing and operating memory and Alzheimer’s care centers.
“A lot of people can’t afford the private pay rates,” Carnarius said. “And it’s very hard to retain well-trained, qualified staff.”
Still, she is very bullish on the future of treating Alzheimer’s and dementia in the Denver-Boulder area.
“There are quite a wide range of facilities available, and they keep getting better, as does the treatment of Alzheimer’s,” she said.
