The Hearthstone Way

Assisted Living:
The Ideal Setting for People with Alzheimer's

From the beginning, Hearthstone's founders believed strongly that Assisted Living is the very best setting for most people with Alzheimer's or related disorders, and through their research, presentations, and the example of Hearthstone, were instrumental in making Assisted Living a widely accepted setting for dementia treatment.

Until recently, people with Alzheimer's or related dementias had only two options: Stay at home with paid or family support, or move to a nursing home. However, most people with dementia actually do best in a structured group setting that is residential in nature.

Most of us in Hearthstone's management team have cared for a family member at home. We understand the stress this causes for the family, but more importantly we have seen the ways that a small family household can become limiting and under-stimulating for the person with dementia. A recent article in Smart Money entitled"Ten Things your Home Health-Care Provider Won't Tell You" outlines the hidden costs of keeping a relative at home, which include both high out-of-pocket costs and loss of pay or career advancement for family members dealing with frequent callouts. Add to this the lack of daily supervision and support for the home health aide and potential lack of stimulation and socialization for the person with dementia and home care often provides the most stressful and difficult alternative at the highest cost.

In addition, many members of the Hearthstone team have, in the past, worked in the nursing home industry and understand the limitations of that institutional setting. Hearthstone has been instrumental in the development of assisted living regulations in Massachusetts and nationally. Through this activism, we have been able to ensure that Assisted Living regulations allow providers like us the flexibility to respond to each resident and each family's needs and preferences.

Since Hearthstone opened Massachusetts' first Assisted Living residence for people with dementia, Assisted Living has become the setting of choice for increasing numbers of those with dementia. Various studies show that people with cognitive impairment constitute approximately 40% of all those living in Assisted Living Residences in the United States today. Of these, perhaps half are in designated dementia units or buildings. While most Assisted Living Residences only serve people in the earlier stages of dementia, many Hearthstone Residences have Enhanced Life programs [click here for more on the Enhanced Life Program] to serve even those in the later stages of the disease.

Some of the advantages of specialized Assisted Living for people with dementia over both institutional and family care include:

Security in a setting that is designed for safety and allows for clear paths to get around and freedom of movement through large and varied spaces.

Respect for individual choice in foods, dress, possessions, sleeping schedule and other fundamental and important human experiences.
Staff who are particularly well trained in understanding the spoken and unspoken preferences of each individual, and who know how to support the highest level of functioning instead of undermining the individual's independence.
Incorporation of family and community with each individual's daily life.
Reduced cost: Assisted Living typically costs about 85% of the nursing home rate for the same level of care. The additional costs in nursing homes can be attributed to requirements that do not, in fact, add to the quality of life or care for those with dementia. Home care, especially if it includes maintaining a separate household for the person with dementia, quickly becomes much more costly than assisted living.