Lifestyle hubs rekindle happy memories

FINDLAY — The Legacy at Heritage Estates assisted living is providing one more way for residents with dementia to remember good times past. It could involve tinkering with tools, planting flowers or even handwashing a sinkful of dishes. These areas are called hubs and feature different aspects of daily life, said Robin Coffman, Legacy Neighborhood director and a certified dementia practitioner. "This is something new," she said. "We're basing our hubs around the residents that we have so they're going to change. As our residents change, which unfortunately is the nature of what we do, these hubs will change." The very first hub from four years ago was a nursery where residents could go back to early motherhood or fatherhood days. "But I no longer have any residents that want to engage in that," she said. Trilogy Health Services, which owns The Legacy, is moving more towards these hub areas, said Coffman. The facility currently has 22 residents but can house up to 30. "They're more gearing towards lifestyle — what did they do, what did they enjoy, what brought them joy, what brings them happiness now — continuing to do the things that give them purpose," she said. The Greenacre Drive facility has five hubs, Coffman noted, including a laundry, kitchenette, porch and outside courtyard. Most recently, a garage area was added. "I'm getting more and more gentlemen," said Coffman, who realized that many of the programs they offer are geared more towards women then the men. "So brainstorming, trying to come up with what do men like to do? Men like to go to their garage or their man cave, whatever that area is that they do man stuff," she said. "So that's what kind of started my brain moving towards this direction." As a result, she came up with the garage hub. "I found a small toolbox because a lot of my gentlemen are either in wheelchairs or walkers. If I would have had a big toolbox, they wouldn't have been able to enjoy it, open the drawers, look at the tools, all of those things," she said. There are shiny silver tools, old license plates and a few small antique automobiles. A sign with nuts and bolts provide a dexterity activity. Coffman also found an old-fashioned wooden level and old antique sprayer. "I put out some older antique tools. We never know where they're at. Maybe they're way back to when they did use those," she said. Part of the area houses old military objects like a helmet and canteen. "A lot of gentlemen in their garage have their military stuff, honoring them when they served our country," she explained. Coffman said this hub was more challenging to create because the men want to do the physical work like mow the yard and change the tires. "They come and kind of mess with the nuts and bolts. And sometimes they just sit in here. Some men do, they just go sit in their garage, you know, hang out," she said. Multiple women in the facility want to do laundry, said Coffman. That area provides a closet for hanging clothes, a drying rack and a space for ironing. "They want to fold. They want to iron. They want to hang clothes on the line. So that's why I made a laundry room," she said. Once there's a turnover of residents, Coffman said they may want something completely different. "It might be a music room. I don't know what that will be, but we're gearing what we do around our residents and what brings them joy and purpose instead of here's what we've got, you're going to love it. But they don't love it," she said. "It needs to be what they love, not what we love." Meals are served family-style with residents passing the bowls and platters. Coffman said one resident does dishes almost every day. "So we get hot water and soap in there, and she does the dishes. We take them back and really do the dishes, but it gives her purpose. That's what she did at home. We bring home. This is home," she said. A porch area provides a wicker settee where residents can sit and browse magazines about gardening and birds. "We have a courtyard outside," Coffman said. "Every year our company has, it's called Campus in Color. So we take our courtyards, and we turn them into magic." Residents plant flowers and vegetables in raised gardening beds. "This is another hub where they go out and they water or they dig in the dirt. I have chickens that I bring in once the weather breaks and it's good. I will bring in a chicken or two and they take care of the chickens. They gather the eggs," she said. The courtyard is also an area for bird watching or just sitting in the sun. "Another thing for my gentlemen, they trim my bushes. I got a leaf blower. They come out here with the leaf blower and they clean everything off for me," she said. "Ladies want to mess in the flowers, but our men want to get out there and use the tools." The facility is a place where people with dementia can continue to do the things that bring them joy, she said. Her team also receives dementia training monthly. "It's very family-oriented so we do a lot of family-oriented things," said Coffman. "It's a community over here, so it's not a nursing home, it's a community. This becomes their community. With dementia they lose that just by moving into a facility so we bring that back to them." Coffman offers monthly support group meetings for families and the community. Legacy is associated with the Alzheimer's Association and provides support groups with the organization as well.