Michelle Cornelius, VP of Memory Care at Cogir Senior Living, joins Suzanne to talk about the social wellness of those with dementia in senior living communities. This segment focuses on how senior living communities have responded after having had to isolate seniors during the pandemic.

Michelle says, "We really have seen effects from COVID starting with families not wanting to have a person move into memory care or assisted living, because you didn't know when you would see that again. And so people are moving in much later in the disease process than they used to, which makes adjustment harder sometimes. And then, when a person was in assisted living or memory care, we told them they had to isolate. And so we're sending people to their rooms and we're providing meals in the rooms and activities in the rooms and doing things one-on-one, instead of bringing them to groups. Dementia is use it or lose it. So if I tell you to go to your room for three months, and now I'm telling you it's OK to come out, you're not coming out.

"We've had to start with a lot of small group involvement. We can still have our great activity calendar where the people who are ready to come out are participating. A lot of the staff have gotten involved, one or two people at a time encouraging people to come out for those one or two things that are most purposeful and meaningful for them. Increasing their volunteer portion of what the resident is doing in memory care: I am much more likely to come out if I'm leading the activity than if I'm just participating in the activity. And then getting the family involved. When the family visits, they say I'm coming over because they're having a party. Let's go to the party that they're having."

The Vitality Revolution podcast series is sponsored by Humana.

Hear more:
Michelle Cornelius episodes on Answers for Elders: https://answersforelders.com/tag/michelle-cornelius/
Social Wellness episodes: https://answersforelders.com/vitality-revolution/social-wellness/
Occupational Wellness episodes: https://answersforelders.com/vitality-revolution/occupational-wellness/

Learn more:
Cogir Senior Living: https://www.cogirseniorliving.com/
Michelle Cornelius: https://cadencesl.com/cadence-living-hires-michelle-cornelius-as-vp-of-memory-care-engagement/
The Vitality Revolution podcast series: https://answersforelders.com/vitality-revolution/
Humana: https://www.humana.com/
Answers for Elders: https://answersforelders.com/welcome-to-answers-for-elders/

You can reach Michelle Cornelius at [email protected].

Answers for Elders is part of the SeniorResource Network: https://www.seniorresource.com/

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.