By David Tyler
Loretto’s new memory care facility on the campus of the Nottingham in DeWitt was unveiled at a ribbon cutting on Friday, Nov. 6.
The facility, named the Borer Memory Life Community at The Nottingham, is a state-of-the-art assisted living facility named for Frank and Patti Borer, lifelong residents of the area, who donated $1 million to support the project. Patti Borer is a resident at The Nottingham.
“This beautiful project … would not have been possible without the generosity of the Frank and Patti Borer family,” said Loretto president and CEO Kim Townsend.
On Friday, members of the Borer family joined together for a brief ceremony commemorating the grand opening before Loretto staff members provided tours of the center.
There are several unique features of the Borer Memory Life Community.
Each of the rooms in the center are unique in both their architecture and their color schemes to help those suffering from Alzheimer’s Disease identify their apartment more easily. Outside each room is a memory box – a small glass cabinet that will hold keepsakes and photographs helping residents further identify their space.
The center is divided into two “neighborhoods” of rooms and there are two suites where couples who both suffer from dementia can live together.
The windows in all of the rooms have either eastern or western exposure, and large bay windows throughout the facility maximize the natural light.
“We really want it to feel like home,” said Jennifer Ingerson, vice president of housing at Loretto.
In designing the facility, Loretto looked at memory care centers through New York as well as innovations in memory care from abroad. One of those innovations is the use of the color red in the furniture and dishes in the dining area. Many dementia patients have challenges eating and studies have shown the color red stimulates the appetite.
The centerpiece of the facility is a two-story internal garden, where residents will be able to participate in gardening activities. Two large garden water features will be replanted four times a year to match the seasons.
There are multiple ways to that residents can navigate through the facility, but there are no tight corners or dead end hallways that can sometimes create confusion for those suffering from dementia.
In total, the Borer Memory Life Community will house 24 memory care residents
“This is going to be the future of memory care,” Townsend said. “We’ve seen it work successfully in the Netherlands and we know this is what’s needed here in the U.S.”
Loretto is currently recruiting for staffing at the facility. In total, there will be 33 employees.
In the 20,000 square foot basement level of the memory care center, Ingerson said Loretto plans to develop a research center for memory care in conjunction with Clarity Clinical Research, a medical research group headquartered on Kirkville Road.
Ingerson said the goal is to provide dementia screenings and research for residents, their family members and even Loretto staff.
“Our vision is to have a living laboratory for clinical research,” she said.
Although patients have not yet arrived at the Borer center, the facility is already fully booked and there is a waiting list, which Ingerson said speaks to the tremendous need for long-term memory care. There are currently 400,000 New Yorkers with Alzheimer’s disease and that number is expected to increase by 15 percent in the next five years.
