Inside Knollwood Memory Care: Personalized Dementia Care

Most people hear “memory care” and picture restriction. We picture support that feels like home while still protecting residents living with dementia, Alzheimer’s, and other cognitive changes. Juliette Wilson, nurse manager and director of a memory care unit, explains what the unit is, who it serves, and why safety can be built with smart design like delayed egress doors rather than a fully locked environment.

We get practical about the day-to-day rhythm that makes dementia care work: individualized routines, breakfast and movement, coffee chats, patio time, and activities that meet people where they are. Juliette also shares how special events, yoga, Tai Chi, pet therapy, and especially music therapy can lift mood and spark connection when short-term memory is unreliable. If you’ve ever watched someone remember every lyric from decades ago but not recall their meal, you’ll understand why music can be a clinical tool as much as a comfort.

Then we talk about the moments families worry about most: challenging behaviors and transitions from assisted or supportive living into memory care. Juliette breaks down a simple but powerful lens for behavior, seeing it as communication about unmet needs like hunger, fear, discomfort, or the urge to find family. We also dig into caregiver continuity, open visiting practices, and specialized training such as a Montessori approach to dementia care, plus tools like the Tovertafel that create meaningful play across different stages.

If you’re researching memory care for a parent, planning ahead for Alzheimer’s care, or you work in senior living, this conversation offers grounded insight and real-world details. Subscribe, share this with a caregiver or family member, and leave a review with your biggest question about dementia care.

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Transcript

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What Memory Care Means

SPEAKER_01 0:00

Hi, I'm Juliette Wilson. I'm the nurse manager and director of the memory care unit.

SPEAKER_00 0:05

What is a memory care unit?

SPEAKER_01 0:08

A memory care unit is a safe place for anybody with a cognitive defect such as dementia, Alzheimer's, anybody even with a CVA that has just that defect.

SPEAKER_00 0:21

So tell me, are they all full most of the time?

SPEAKER_01 0:24

Yes, we have a wait list.

SPEAKER_00 0:25

And how long is the wait list?

SPEAKER_01 0:27

It depends. Sometimes we can have a one-person wait list to an eight-person wait list.

SPEAKER_00 0:32

Gotcha. And so the memory care unit at Nollwood, is it attached as a building or detached, or how does that work with Nollwood?

Safety Without A Locked Unit

SPEAKER_01 0:40

Our memory care unit is connected to Nollwood just by a double doors connected to the assisted living, supported living side of the building. We're not a locked unit, but we have delayed egress doors that we use as safety interventions for those that qualify for that.

SPEAKER_00 0:57

And what is what does a delayed egress door mean to the person who doesn't work there every day?

SPEAKER_01 1:02

Yeah, they're just doors that if you push for 15 seconds, an alarm will sound. The door will eventually open after 15 seconds when the alarm sounds, but it's not totally locked.

SPEAKER_00 1:13

Gotcha. So they can get out in the event of a fire or something else happening, but it's gonna let everybody in the staff know someone's trying to leave or get out. Okay, gotcha. So that makes a lot of

Daily Routines And Special Events

SPEAKER_00 1:26

sense. What is a typical day like at in the memory care unit? What do you guys do?

SPEAKER_01 1:32

Yeah, everybody has their own routine. It's tailored specifically to each resident with person-centered care. But an overall view would be if they wake up, have breakfast, then we do some type of exercise, a sitter size, yoga, Tai Chi, something of that sort. And then they'll have coffee and watch news or just have a daily chat. And then they'll play games like on the Tover Taffel, and we'll have lunch, they'll relax on the patio, listen to music on the patio, have snacks and drinks on the patio, and have dinner, and then just re-unwind for the day.

SPEAKER_00 2:11

And do you guys have some special events for the residents there, like around the holidays or yeah, we have holiday parties.

SPEAKER_01 2:19

We just had the big 4th of July event here with the fireworks. We have music therapy and pet therapy. Music therapy. Pet therapy is once a month, every Saturday of the month. And we have somebody that comes in and does yoga Tuesday, Thursdays, and Saturdays, and we have somebody that comes in and does Tai Chi Wednesdays and Fridays.

When Residents Transition To Memory Care

SPEAKER_00 2:43

Okay, so tell me about uh about the severity of dementia. Can the person who has dementia go from maybe a stage where they're not able to live in the supportive living, they go to they transition over to memory care. And do they stay there until the end of life?

SPEAKER_01 3:04

Yeah, we've had quite a few residents that lived on the supportive living side of the building for years and eventually have transitioned over just due to mainly safety reasons. We just want everybody to be safe, and we still have residents that are still over here that have been living over here. They that have moved over whenever the unit opened.

SPEAKER_00 3:24

Wow.

SPEAKER_01 3:24

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 3:25

That's great. That is great. So they are long-term residents and they're they didn't have to move buildings, they didn't they did have to move buildings, but they didn't have to move across town. They got to stay there where they interact with and they're in the same location with all the people they've probably known or gotten to know over the years. So that's great.

Music Therapy That Sparks Memory

SPEAKER_00 3:43

What are some things that music therapy does? Do they listen to oldies or is it by headphones or do they just play some music?

SPEAKER_01 3:51

Yeah, so we have a music therapist. She's came a few times, she'll be here next week. She is she's employed with Residential Hospice. Her name is Hannah Fisher. She comes in, she sings songs, she brings guitar, she brings tambourines. It's really hands-on with all the residents. It can also be one-on-one for those that don't want to leave their room. Not everybody's an extrovert. Some people want to stay in their rooms. So she does come and she'll go into their rooms, and it depends. She also brings hands-on pamphlets, pamphlets on music, old musicians, new musicians. So whatever the residents want to listen to, she'll sing with them. She'll pull it up on her phone if she doesn't know the song. So she'll try her best.

SPEAKER_00 4:32

That is really nice because I'm sure there are some oldies that they loved that bring back a lot of old memories for them. That music seems to touch us in a lot of ways that just talking to someone can't. They can remember old tunes from back when they were teenagers, but don't know what they had for breakfast today. Yeah. That's awesome that you guys provide

Responding To Challenging Behaviors

SPEAKER_00 4:53

that. So let's talk about challenging behavior. When someone has a challenging behavior, how do you guys handle that? Do you redirect them or what does that look like?

SPEAKER_01 5:02

Yeah, obviously we redirect and we try to see what need isn't being met because usually when there's behaviors, there's a need that's not being met. Whether they're hungry, they want to go to the bathroom, they're looking for family, they don't feel safe, they want to change their clothes. We really dig deep to figure out what the main cause of the behavior is. And one good thing about Knollwood and Memory Lane is that we have retained a consistent team of caregivers since we opened the unit. Nice. Yeah. So each caregiver knows each resident's tailored routine. They understand triggers and their little quirks and needs. So everybody we yeah, I would say the caregivers have built trusting relationships with all the residents.

SPEAKER_00 5:49

I'm sure that makes them feel a lot better. And do you guys do things like dolls and teddy bears? And I know there's all kinds of dementia related activities out there, like baby dolls. Sometimes a woman or even a man will want to hold a baby. Is that something that you guys do?

SPEAKER_01 6:07

We did have a resident in the past that had baby doll therapy, and some days I'd end up babysitting her baby for her. We just no day is the same. One day she's all about the baby, the next day she wants a break. She wants the babysit. She's going to work, so drop the baby off at daycare.

SPEAKER_00 6:25

That's awesome. And I'm sure that baby was the easiest baby you've ever had to care for. So pretty easy request. Yeah.

Consistent Staff And Family Visits

SPEAKER_00 6:32

That's great. And is there any other thing that you find that memory care at Knollwood serves that just traditional nursing facility just doesn't? I feel like the continuity of your caregivers being the same ones for a long time, that's really special.

SPEAKER_01 6:51

Yep, and we don't have agency staff at all, nursing or CNA. Everybody, all the staff members know the residents. That's great. That at the end of the day, we're it's like we're family.

SPEAKER_00 7:01

I'm sure that their family members also feel much relief in knowing that it's the same crew all the time.

SPEAKER_01 7:08

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 7:09

That's great. What about visiting hours? Let's talk about families. Can families come in at certain times?

SPEAKER_01 7:14

Yeah. We really viewed as their home. We say these are their apartments, they're not their rooms. So we don't have designated visiting hours. If a family wants to come see their family member, they can come. They can come at any time of the day. I often obviously I recommend during waking hours.

SPEAKER_00 7:34

2 a.m. is not gonna do much for you, but 2 p.m. might be a better time of the day.

SPEAKER_01 7:40

Some residents seem to visit better with family in the evenings. Some seem to visit better during the day.

SPEAKER_00 7:45

So families are encouraged to participate and come out.

Medical Care Showers And Salon Days

SPEAKER_00 7:49

What about doctor's appointments? Does a doctor come in to see everybody, or do you take folks out to go see physicians and things like that?

SPEAKER_01 7:58

Yeah, we have a nurse practitioner with Gerial Primary. She comes to see residents on a three-month basis and as needed basis. She's in the facilly every two weeks. We also have a podiatrist that comes quarterly.

SPEAKER_00 8:11

Nice. And do they get their hair done or just, you know, basic showers, or how do you guys handle that?

SPEAKER_01 8:18

This we have a shower schedule and it just goes by needs, whatever the resident needs. And some days, maybe they don't want to take a shower on Tuesday. We'll do it on Wednesday. But with whatever the resident wants. We also have a beautician on site here at Nollwood, and she's here every Thursday. She does perms, cuts, dy.

SPEAKER_00 8:37

That's nice.

SPEAKER_01 8:37

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 8:38

That's great because I know whether you remember what you had for breakfast or not, you probably you might remember that you'd love to have your hair done.

SPEAKER_01 8:45

Yeah. You might feel better.

SPEAKER_00 8:46

Yes, I always feel better when I get my hair done. Thank you for talking to us about the memory care. You call it memory lane?

SPEAKER_01 8:54

Yep, we call it memory lane.

SPEAKER_00 8:56

Perfect.

Dementia Training And Montessori Approach

SPEAKER_00 8:57

That's so nice. Okay, so you you mentioned to me that you all do dementia training.

SPEAKER_01 9:01

So tell us all about I am certified through the National Council of Certified Dementia Practitioners. And what that means is I am a certified monetary dementia professional, and I am also trained uh a trained trainer. So what that means is it helps me train the staff to be to give more individualized individualized care and hand it just gives on a hands-on experience with the with the staff for that individual outlook. And I'm also a certified dementia practitioner.

SPEAKER_00 9:31

Oh wow, great. That's nice because it dementia care is even though we see a lot of folks with dementia, it really is a very specialized way of understanding how they don't see as well as they did, they're not hearing you as well as they did. They're they may not even have the right feeling in their fingertips that they used to have. So understanding the aging process and dementia on top of that is really important. So I'm so glad you can do that.

SPEAKER_01 9:58

Yeah, the monastery approach is really just to summarize it, it's individualized for everybody. It's a hands-on approach, and it just promotes as much independence as possible. We take whatever their strong suits are and we focus on that. For example, in the past, I had a non-verbal dementia patient, and she could not express any needs, but you know what she could do? She could play the piano.

SPEAKER_00 10:22

Wow.

SPEAKER_01 10:22

She so she would play the piano at any time, and you could just tell that just brought out happiness in her.

SPEAKER_00 10:29

That is so nice. Yes. It'd be so lovely to hear. Oh my goodness. Yeah.

Tovertafel Games For Every Stage

SPEAKER_00 10:34

And tell us about tell me about the Tober Taffel. The Tover Taffel. I have no idea what that means. Tell us about the Tover Taffel.

SPEAKER_01 10:42

Okay, the Tober Taffel has simple games that promote meaningful play. Games are specifically designed for those with dementia and can be individualized or for a group. For example, level one is observation only, level two is observation and holds attention. Level three is memorize memorization games, which end with a reward. Four, focus on thinking, reasoning, and you can make mistakes in those games. Level five is planning and decision making. So each level of care and stage of dementia, there's a level of games. Gotcha. And it involves you can involve everybody in the games. There's music games, matching games, memorizing, which is a lot of music games. Everybody seems to like the music games.

SPEAKER_00 11:30

Yep, I bet they do. I bet they do. That's probably really fun for them.

SPEAKER_01 11:34

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 11:34

Great. Yeah. Music is what it's all about sometimes, the dementia world. It just really has an effect on our brain and our souls. So that's awesome. You guys doing a lot with music is really great. That's a meaningful part of their lives, and so that's awesome.