Why Choose Winchester Gardens for Memory Care?

There’s a lot to consider when faced with the challenge of finding the best possible memory care for your loved one. You want them to have a home that doesn’t feel like an institution, pleasant and secure outdoor areas to feel the warmth of the sun, a variety of mind-enriching activities, and a supportive memory care team armed with both compassion and the latest research.

Winchester Gardens, a Springpoint Life Plan Community, offers all of the advantages of senior living communities with an addition of leading-edge memory care in a historic setting that’s warm and inviting. A lush landscape of trees and flowers fills the campus with natural beauty. 

That’s why Winchester Gardens feels like a fit to so many who experience it for themselves. Here are a few of the things you’ll learn by spending a few hours at our campus in Maplewood, New Jersey. (Scheduling a visit takes just a minute.)

The Research Behind Our Memory Care

Anyone who has cared for someone facing memory loss, knows how difficult it can be to keep their loved one both safe and connected to the world around them. That kind of care doesn’t just fall into place.

Using the best and most current research, we developed Connections: A Dementia Care Model of Excellence. We start by making sure our memory care neighborhood is easily navigated and secure, including an enclosed outdoor area to enjoy nice weather. It’s equally important that this space feels familiar, comfortable, and homelike.

As important as pleasant and secure surroundings are, it’s our approach to caregiving that truly makes the difference. Our highly trained team members embrace person-centered care, which starts by making a true connection with someone. That means getting to know their background, preferences, family situation, cultural traditions, and vocational skills.

There is no one-size-fits-all way to care for residents. Seeking to truly know a person gives them the respect and dignity they deserve. It’s also a research-backed way of helping them thrive.

What Person-Centered Care Looks Like

Let’s say you’re someone who has built your career around the world of art and interior design. Now imagine someone comes along and wants to teach you how to repair a car engine. How much of that information do you think you’d take in? More importantly, how interested would you be?

That’s the same principle behind person-centered care. If we’re caring for your mother, for example, we’d do everything we could to truly understand her, including talking to you. And if we found out she was a high-school English teacher who loved to garden and bake on weekends, we’d use that information to customize her plan.

That could mean finding out what her favorite books are and making sure she has a way to listen to them. Or maybe a team member would join her for a stroll to look at the flowers blooming in the spring. It could even be something as small as asking her what she thought of the cake she had after dinner. Was the buttercream frosting good? Did it need a bit more vanilla? 

That’s not the same approach we’d take with the person sitting next to her at dinner — and that’s the point.

It’s that sincere and true connection with a person that opens the door to a meaningful life.  

New Memory Care Findings

It’s a common — but false — assumption that people with dementia have lost the ability to engage and learn. An article published in 2023 on Neuroscience News reported the results of a study, which found that:

1. 1. Despite severe memory loss, study participants learned to use a tablet more independently during the study.
2. 2. Study participants could even learn from each other without help from caregivers or loved ones, showing their ability to focus and collaborate.
3. 3. The study suggests that “engaging dementia patients in meaningful activities based on their interests could help tap into their remaining learning capabilities and improve their quality of life.”

The study stressed that dementia patients are not to be “treated as children.” Instead, they should be encouraged — and given the tools to — ”participate in meaningful activities based on their own interests and desires.” 

What Winchester Gardens Has to Offer

While person-centered care is the foundation for all we do, Winchester Gardens and its trained behavioral management team uses a full lineup of tools and resources to develop the best possible memory care, including the following.

• Interventions guided by a certified therapeutic recreation specialist.
• Affiliation with Neuropsychology Associates, including a family support group.
• Computer-based activities that promote cognitive fitness.
• Private dining venues for a sense of continuity and familiarity. 
• Indoor and outdoor gardens with scheduled activities.
• Twelve activity stations designed to promote purposeful wandering.
• A task room for engaging specific interests.
• Reminiscence and interactive art work and memory boxes.
• Off-site activities to enjoy the surrounding area.
• Spacious apartments specially designed to promote comfort and independence.
• Supervised access to all of Winchester Gardens’ amenities, including the art studio, beauty salon, marketplace, movie theater, and 37 acres of beautifully landscaped grounds. 

How to Choose a Memory Care Community

Visiting a memory care community is the best way to make sure you make the right choice for your loved one. Pictures, videos, and even online reviews only tell part of the story. How do residents and team members interact with each other? What is the outdoor space like? What’s the rhythm of daily life? We invite you to experience Winchester Gardens for yourself by scheduling a visit to our New Jersey campus.