Alzheimer's Care: How Copper Ridge Nursing Home Gets It Right

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Activities directors, other healthcare professionals and caregivers, here is a story of interest:
aUS NEWS AND WORLD REPORT

At the Johns Hopkins-affiliated facility, residents with dementia get attention and social interaction
By Kerry Hannon
The Hopkins collaboration ensures that staff training is continuous and well above par. Maryland state law calls for 12 hours of ongoing education each year for certified nursing assistants, for example, and Copper Ridge more than doubles that quota. Nurse specialists, neuropsychologists, and neuropsychiatrists from Johns Hopkins teach and brainstorm with staff to assess the right solution for every challenge. "For this population, you need to have a training program that is ongoing and very topic specific to what they are dealing with," Koenig says. "Our staff tells us what most of our training topics should be based on what they are dealing with on a daily basis."

While there are other facilities around the country aiming to provide top-level dementia care similar to Copper Ridge's, they are far from the norm. The most obvious similarity, though, is found in the living quarters and resident-centered care. A growing number of assisted living and nursing homes are offering a homelike environment and are stressing activities and physical stimulation. Few, however, have the extra benefit of working in tandem with a world-class medical team each day.

Not surprisingly, the educated care doesn't come cheap. Copper Ridge costs as much as $113,515 a year for assisted living (from $205 to $311 per day, depending on the level of care) and up to $140,525 a year for nursing home care ($385 a day). Although the facility's nursing home unit accepts people on Medicaid, the assisted living component is strictly private pay. (Some residents have long-term care policies that help foot the bill.) Even at this price, at times there's a waiting period of a few weeks for a bed. In the nation's 100 largest metropolitan areas, dementia care in assisted living averages $56,316 a year for a private bedroom, or about $154 a day, according to the......read the whole story