BEAVERCREEK — After a 15 month-long implementation process, Trinity Community’s Memory Lane neighborhood has successfully achieved accreditation from Comfort Matters — an internationally recognized dementia care program.
The Memory Lane neighborhood is home to 24 residents.
Comfort Matters is a philosophy, a care practice and an evidence-based program that offers holistic, integrated approaches to improve the quality of care and of life for people experiencing dementia. It was developed at Beatitudes Campus in Phoenix, Arizona, through nearly two decades of research around person-directed healthcare practices and the latest science on supporting people living with dementia, including Alzheimer’s disease.
Trinity Community is the second United Church Homes community to become an accredited provider of the Comfort Matters program.
“Our plan is to implement the Comfort Matters program at all of our senior living communities,” said Amy Kotterman, director of hospitality services for United Church Homes. The other United Church Homes communities are all in the process of receiving training, which will be complete in 2019.
Kotterman said the Beatitudes Campus program is the best.
“When we were evaluating various programs, we kept going back to the Beatitudes Comfort Matters program, as their mission, vision and core values so closely resembles our own,” she said. “During trainings, I often tell our staff, ‘Beatitudes feels like a sister community. Both of our organizations hold a deep belief in focusing on the person and individualized care as well as meeting the needs of the whole person.’”
Although in the early stages of implementation, Comfort Matters has already shown results, Kotterman said.
After an initial five-day on-site educational program for all levels of Trinity Community’s staff, Comfort Matters educators and consultants met with the team for weekly coaching calls and an additional onsite visit from the Comfort Matters team to assist them into meeting benchmarks for adoption of evidence-based, best practice standards for people with dementia, their families and staff. Trinity Community has met and, in many cases, exceeded the milestones and is now part of an elite group of long-term care providers known for excellence in dementia care.
“The staff at Trinity has worked diligently the past several months to enhance quality of life for people with dementia,” said Tena Alonzo, director of Comfort Matters. “The Memory Lane neighborhood team is an inspiration of hope to their residents, their families and the community.”
Trinity is located at 3218 Indian Ripple Road. For more information call 937-426-8481.
