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exceptional alzheimer’s care

We promise to love and care for
your family as we do our own.

Experience a community that feels like home and a staff that loves and cares like they’re family.

Learn About Care Options for Your Loved One with Alzheimer’s

Our lives are made up of memories; Memories of friends, family, of good times, and obstacles overcome. So when a loved one is diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease, it can feel overwhelming. The truth is that a diagnosis of Alzheimer’s is life-altering for everyone involved – not just the individual with the diagnosis.

Do you have questions about Alzheimer’s?

Are you curious about innovative care and therapy options?

Maybe you just want to visit and experience a memory care community to get a better sense of future options?

A community that feels like home, but provides state-of-the-art memory care. 

Alzheimer’s FAQ

Depending on where you are in your Alzheimer’s care journey, you’re likely to have many questions. Let’s start with a few basic questions.

What is Alzheimer’s Disease?

Alzheimer’s disease is a type of dementia that causes difficulty with memory, thinking, and sometimes behavior. Alzheimer’s is the most common form of dementia, accounting for 60 percent to 80 percent of all cases. As a progressive disease, with symptoms worsening over time, Alzheimer’s has no cure.

However, Alzheimer’s care communities, like The Kensington Reston, can improve the quality of life for your loved one.

Whether suffering from early-, middle-, or advanced-stage Alzheimer’s disease, The Kensington Reston provides the right specialized treatment, tools, environment, and compassion to give each resident the individualized support they need.

Have questions? Contact us to discuss your situation and connect with our team!

What are the stages of Alzheimer’s?

Alzheimer’s disease typically progresses slowly in three general stages — mild (early stage), moderate (middle-stage), and severe (late-stage). Since Alzheimer’s affects people in different ways, the timing and severity of dementia symptoms vary as each person progresses through the stages of Alzheimer’s differently.

What are the leading causes of Alzheimer’s?

While the exact causes of Alzheimer’s disease aren’t fully understood, scientists believe that for most people, Alzheimer’s disease is a combination of genetic, lifestyle and environmental factors that affect the brain over time.

Less than 1 percent of the time, Alzheimer’s is caused by specific genetic changes that virtually guarantee a person will develop the disease. These rare occurrences usually result in disease onset in middle age.

We love and care for your family as we do our own.

The Kensington at Sierra Madre, a Dedicated Memory Care Community

At the Kensington, we understand the challenges and concerns that come with Alzheimer’s and memory loss and we treat our residents with the utmost respect and dignity. We love and care for your family as we do our own. We recognize that the family is an essential part of this journey. That’s why we have thoughtfully designed a state-of-the-art, personalized memory care program that benefits all kinds of resident and family situations.

With an exceptionally high staff-to-resident ratio, we can offer highly individualized, comfortable, and peaceful care by providing your loved one with the following loving support:

  • Licensed nurse on-site 24/7
  • Dedicated Director of Memory Care
  • Specialized Memory Care team
    • Full-time Memory Care Supervisor
    • Director of Nursing Services
    • Full time Connections Activity Coordinator
    • Full Time Haven Activities Coordinator
    • Dedicated Activities staff 7 days a week
    • Primary Care Managers
    • Director of Family Services
  • Comprehensively trained caregivers and staff
  • Psychological and psychiatric services
  • On-site physical, occupational and speech therapies 

We believe in supporting our residents’ strengths and discovering unique ways to find the beauty in each moment.

We believe that each resident is truly valuable and important – regardless of the severity of his or her memory loss. That’s why we don’t believe in one-size-fits-all care. Instead, we curate our efforts to fit each individual. We provide individual services such as:

  • Extensive support programs
    • Wheelchair assistance
    • Two-person or three-person assists
    • Wound care
    • Hospice
  • Medication and diabetes management 
  • On-Site Rehabilitation
    • Physical
    • Occupational
    • Speech
  • Accommodation of special diets all overseen by a registered dietitian
    • Diabetic
    • Renal
    • Gluten-free
    • Vegetarian
    • Open seating with table linens and Fiestaware
    • Hydration program
    • Focus on healthy meals that include foods high in antioxidants, omega-3 fatty acids and B complex vitamins

State-of-the-Art Alzheimer’s Therapies

The Kensington is a unique memory care community, we create individualized service plans that are specially tailored to each resident based upon their personal desires and needs – not only physical, but also cognitive, and spiritual, as we believe each to be of equal importance. To enrich our residents’ lives we offer:

  • 14 and 45 day post-move in family meetings, then every 6 months after
  •  Regular family nights
  • Regular support groups facilitated by our Director of Family Services
  • In house board-certified Music therapy
  • Art therapy
  • Pocket Programming (Specialized small-group activities)
  • Our first level of memory care begins in our Assisted Living neighborhood and is specifically designed for residents with new diagnosis of dementia-related cognitive disorders.

Specialized Memory Care Communities

We believe that each resident deserves to live in a community that is best for them and their individual degree of memory loss. To ensure that our residents receive the most beneficial and appropriate care for their individual circumstances, we distinguish our community into two different “neighborhoods.”

Connections

Connections is our neighborhood for early to middle stage Alzheimer’s and dementia care. It’s designed specifically for residents who show increasing signs of memory loss but still retain a significant degree of independence. Our goal is to help residents remain engaged in activities that give meaning and purpose to their lives.

Your loved one may be experiencing increased anxiety, fear of getting lost, isolation, and even depression before transitioning to assisted living. They may be having difficulty with daily tasks without reminders, causing them to become frustrated and lose confidence. They may also wander and become agitated in the late afternoon or early evening, as the sun goes down.

Connections provides a fully-secured environment to maximize safety, in an intimate, elegant, yet comfortable living space that fosters calm and comfort. The neighborhood has porches, a patio, and garden areas to enable residents to enjoy fresh air and sunshine freely. In our memory care neighborhoods, we also offer state-of-the-art wander management technology to manage residents’ whereabouts while allowing them to move freely.

The Connections Resident

  • Is in the early to middle stages of dementia
  • May be experiencing increased anxiety, fear of getting lost, isolation, and depression
  • May be having difficulty with daily tasks without cueing and reminders, resulting in frustration and lack of confidence
  • May wander and become agitated in late afternoon or early evening due to sundowning

The Connections Neighborhood

  • Is cozy, intimate, and fully secured, with direct outdoor terrace access
  • Is filled with the happy sounds and smells of home such as bread baking, music, laughter, and pets
  • Has separate living, dining, café, entertainment, and program spaces

Haven

In our neighborhood for middle to late-stage Alzheimer’s and dementia, residents may be experiencing difficulty recognizing family and friends, organizing thoughts, and managing the activities of daily living. They may require assistance to maintain their appearance and good hygiene, as well as managing incontinence. Wandering and agitation may become more pronounced.

Residents in this neighborhood receive a higher level of assistance and care. Our goal is to maximize comfort, minimize agitation, and soothe compassionately. We also strive to offer residents opportunities to become involved in tailored activities in ways that are enriching and meaningful.

The Haven neighborhood provides cozy and intimate living spaces that enable residents to explore safely and freely. There’s lots of natural light and a fully secure outdoor terrace to create a cheerful environment.

The neighborhood features an adaptive design, including painted walls and doors, motion sensors, specially designed carpet, and memory boxes, to help recognize and minimize confusion. We also make sure the kitchen is filled with happy sounds and smells of home, such as bread baking, music, laughter, and soft voices to soothe and please the senses.

The Haven Resident

  • Is in the middle to late stages of dementia
  • Has difficulty recognizing family and friends, organizing thoughts and managing the activities of daily living
  • Requires assistance to maintain appearance and good hygiene and to prevent incontinence
  • May wander and become agitated in late afternoon or early evening due to sundowning
  • May exhibit challenging behaviors

The Haven Neighborhood

  • Offers a fully secured environment with lots of natural light
  • Is cozy and intimate with living spaces that enable residents to wander safely and freely
  • Has secured and dedicated outdoor space that residents can freely access
  • Is filled with the happy sounds and smells of home such as bread baking, music, laughter and pets

We Love and Care for Your Family As We Do Our Own

Though Alzheimer’s can be a tough journey, it is one that your family doesn’t need to go through alone. At the Kensington, we are proud to serve as your caregiver-partner so that your time spent with your loved one can be full of smiles, laughter, and memorable moments. We encourage family and friends to come visit your loved one as often as possible, though you can rest assured knowing that when you are not here, your loved one is in compassionate, capable, and knowledgeable hands. 

If your loved one has been diagnosed with Alzheimer’s and is experiencing memory loss – no matter the stage – the Kensington is here to help.

The Kensington Sierra Madre Provides Memory Care Backed by the Positive Approach to Care

The Kensington Sierra Madre recently became the first Positive Approach to Care (PAC) Designated senior living community in California. Thanks to our Executive Director CC Degraff, Director of Memory Care Leandra Sims, and The Kensington Sierra Madre team’s hard work, we are able to make this dream a reality!

The Positive Approach to Care, developed by Teepa Snow, is specific training for care teams and individuals on the brain changes, symptoms, and behaviors associated with dementia.

PAC helps our residents and their families see the person living with dementia, and not just the dementia. In this way, all parties are better equipped to understand what’s happening and respond in a more meaningful way. The Kensington Sierra Madre is proud to be a PAC Designated community, and to use these practices within our memory care community.

A Community Centered on Loving Care

Where your loved one can feel at home, with an exceptionally caring team.