Support for dementia patients during every phase of their journey at Symphony at Olmsted Falls

By Patricia Nugent

Thanks to staff and residents of Symphony at Olmsted Falls already receiving both doses of the Covid-19 vaccine, their building is one of the safest places to be.

Although the past year has been a challenge responding to the pandemic, the staff has gone the extra mile and them some in adapting.

“We’ve been conducting vaccination clinics for our residents that have gone smoothly,” says Danielle Ridgeway, director of sales and marketing. “We educate people about the vaccine, then administer the dose, then take a 15-minute waiting period to make sure there are no side effects. Everyone has done fine. We even gave stickers that said, ‘I’ve been vaccinated.’”

Since the pandemic hit, the staff has been creative in coming up with ways to facilitate FaceTime visits with family when they were on lockdown during the summer, plus still offer activities and programming.

“By limiting the number of passengers to allow for safe social distancing, we’ve still been able to take people on bus rides,” she says. “And as we head into spring and summer, we look forward to taking little outdoor field trips with limited contact, such as visits to local parks.”

She says the staff has been phenomenal in rising to the challenge and rigidly following the Ohio Department of Health and CDC guidelines, yet providing fun activities like singalongs, trivia and the walking club.

“We continually test residents and staff and they’ve been negative,” she says. “We look forward to the next round of having restrictions lifted. Even though we’ve all been adapting to the ‘new normal,’ we cannot wait to get back to our ‘old normal’ again.”

Following Residents Along on their Journey
“We are specialists when it comes to navigating every stage of dementia,” says Danielle. “Through innovative programming and having two on-staff physicians, a behavioral health nurse practitioner, and 24-hour certified care staff, we are uniquely designed and dedicated to serve those suffering from the disease, with security measures in place and apartments specialized for those with dementia.”

She says they are always looking for new ways to nurture the residents and respect their individuality and specialness wherever they are on their journey.

Case in point is the facility’s novel program, the iN2L (It’s Never 2 Late Person-Centered Technology).

Located in the group activity room, iN2L’s interactive screen is designed to improve residents’ quality of life by decreasing boredom and loneliness, with thousands of choices for activities.

“It helps us bring the world into our community,” says Danielle. “Plus, we get to know our residents a little better, and engage them in cognitive, sensory and tactile ways.”

She reports some favorites include the traveling game, where people visit different places, and the trivia activity for veterans, of which there are many at Symphony.

Music is a big part of the program, whether with singalongs, or “conductor-cise,” in which people wave their own wands to conduct the music.

“A nice side benefit of iN2L is that we’ve also seen an improvement in behavior of residents after using it, which helps reduce or eliminate use of medication,” she says.

The activities residents enjoy during the program is recorded on iPads that are synched with it. Available on each floor, they are loaded with each resident’s profile.

Family members who might feel they aren’t connected to their parents or grandparents looking for touchpoints to talk about during visits can have more meaningful dialogues. They are able to pull out their family member’s activity and see their favorites.

Restful, Peaceful, Calming
The first thing that greets you on a visit to Symphony is the gracious and spacious wraparound porch, complete with welcoming rocking chairs.

The stately brick building is tucked back onto a quiet, tree-lined section of Elm Street near downtown.

Residents live in 44 spacious studios. A host of amenities includes physical therapy, beauticians, rehab services, therapy dogs, cooking demonstrations and hospice.

Symphony at Olmsted Falls is located at 25880 Elm Street in Olmsted Falls. Call to schedule a virtual tour. For more information, call 440-235-2750 or visit SymphonyatOlmstedFalls.com.