Canada: Alzheimer’s health club offering new type of care for seniors

December 4, 2014

Ever since she was a teenager, Ashley Kwong knew she wanted to open her own seniors’ home. Now, almost two decades later, her dream is finally becoming a reality. Kwong is launching Memory & Company next spring — and she’s touting the Markham facility as Canada’s first private Alzheimer’s program. Kwong says Memory & Company will have a spalike feel, with well-lit rooms, secured outdoor spaces and programming such as music therapy, gardening and yoga. There will be a five-to-one staffing ratio and an on-site nurse. Costs, which range from $100 per day for basic care to $150 for those with more advanced Alzheimer’s, are on a par with many long-term care facilities and retirement homes. While more expensive than many day programs, Memory & Company will offer a different type of experience, catered specifically to the needs of people with Alzheimer’s and dementia, Kwong says. Clients will be free to roam the health club’s 11,000-square-foot space with a circular design to decrease their dementia-related agitation while wandering through the rooms. Clients will also have access to a salon, gym, dance studio and hydrotherapy spa, alongside outside services like massages and physiotherapy. “We’re also using iPad technology to provide more individualized care, instead of planning the whole program for the month and not caring what people are in the building,” Kwong says. “It’s a different approach than the assembly style of day programs right now.”