Greenberg Starr Memory Support Center
The Hebrew Home at Riverdale has been a pioneer in the development of innovative programs and services for people with Alzheimer’s disease and other dementia disorders. We are always striving for new and creative ways to provide a dignified life in a secure, warm and stimulating environment for people suffering with these diseases.
To that end, The Hebrew Home, with the generous support of Maurice R. Greenberg and the Starr Foundation, has created the Greenberg/Starr Memory Support Center, a specialized residential community where persons with mild to moderate Alzheimer’s disease can thrive in an environment which nurtures and supports them in a highly individualized way. The Memory Support Center brings together new modalities and design, combined with a highly trained staff and individualized programs, to enable people with Alzheimer’s disease to realize greater enjoyment in daily living and experience an enhanced quality of life.
The Memory Support Center is architecturally designed and furnished to recreate a warm, intimate, homelike setting incorporating 42,000 square feet of indoor and outdoor space and includes a traditional living room with a fireplace and adjacent country kitchen. Space is also available for small group activities that offer individualized attention and help engage the diverse interests of each person. The carpeting is soft to encourage walking for exercise and enjoyment; the lighting is designed to eliminate shadows and reflections to reduce potential for resident to be confused or agitated.
In addition to the physical design of the space, the Center uses non-traditional therapies including exercise, pet therapy, tai chi, gentle touch and aromas to reduce aggressive behaviors and improve sleep. Activities are provided seven days a week throughout the day and even the night for those residents whose sleep patterns are erratic.
Sexual Expression Policy at the Home
The Hebrew Home at Riverdale is the first facility of its kind to develop a policy to recognize and protect the sexual rights of nursing home residents, while distinguishing between intimacy and sexually inappropriate behaviors.
Nearly a decade ago, the Hebrew Home began to address the following issues: What should the staff of a nursing home do when its elderly residents want to engage in sex? How should they respond when a person makes sexual advances toward someone suffering from Alzheimer’s disease or other form of dementia? How should staff determine matters of consent for residents with confusion and lost verbal skills? How and when is intervention necessary in the ongoing management of residents who are in an intimate relationship?
Assisted by a grant from the New York State Department of Health, the Hebrew Home created a comprehensive staff training video called “Freedom of Sexual Expression: Dementia and Resident Rights in Long-Term Care facilities,” part of a training program that serves as the standard for all long-term care facilities across the state and the nation.
“We encourage our residents to express their sexuality in a responsible, ethical and moral fashion, while acknowledging the need for our staff to be trained in taking appropriate measures in cases in which a cognitively impaired person might be involved or the rights of one or more residents compromised,” said Daniel Reingold, President and CEO of the Hebrew Home.
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