What Is Memory Care? A Family’s Guide

Memory care is the term the senior living industry uses for residential care built specifically for people living with Alzheimer’s disease or another dementia. It is usually offered as a secured neighbourhood inside an assisted living community, or as a stand-alone building, and it differs from ordinary assisted living in ways that go well beyond a locked door.

What is different

• The building. Memory care units are designed to reduce confusion: circular corridors with no dead ends, memory boxes by each door, calm colours, enclosed gardens that residents can walk in freely and safely.
• The staffing. Ratios are higher than in assisted living, and staff receive dementia-specific training in communication, redirection and managing distress without medication.
• The day. Routine does most of the work. Meals, activities and rest follow a predictable rhythm, and programmes are built around what residents can still do rather than what they have lost.
• The security. Exits are controlled, often with keypads, so that a resident who wanders is safe rather than lost.

When it is the right move

Most families arrive at memory care after a period of trying to manage at home or in assisted living. The signs that it is time are usually practical rather than medical: wandering, especially at night; aggression or agitation that staff in a general setting cannot manage; a caregiver who is exhausted; or a parent who no longer recognises their home and is frightened by it.

A good community will carry out its own assessment before accepting a resident, and will tell you plainly if the person is not yet ready for a secured setting, or has needs beyond what it can meet.

What it costs

Memory care is more expensive than assisted living, typically by a third or more, because of the staffing. Long-term care insurance usually covers it. Medicare does not pay for the residential part. Some states’ Medicaid programmes do, through waivers, and veterans and surviving spouses may qualify for the Aid and Attendance benefit.

Questions to ask on a tour

1. What is the staff-to-resident ratio during the day and at night?
2. What dementia training do care staff receive, and how often?
3. How do you handle a resident who refuses care or becomes upset?
4. Can I see the activity calendar for last month, not next month?
5. What would cause you to ask a resident to leave?

The last question matters most. The answer tells you whether the community can care for your parent through the whole course of the illness, or only its early stages.