More than 5 million Americans have dementia, and 1 in 3 seniors dies with Alzheimer’s or another form of dementia. If you are lucky enough to live a long life, you are even more likely to develop dementia. This disease haunts the dreams of the many Americans who list it as their most feared illness. It’s easy to fear the unknown, but we’ve learned a lot over the past few decades about how to make dementia a little less scary. The Preserve’s Bridges neighborhood offers a compassionate, safe, luxurious home to seniors living with dementia. We know that you can live a good life with dementia. We’d love to show you how. Here’s what you need to know about Bridges.
What Makes Bridges Different
Dementia can affect many aspects of functioning. Moreover, different dementias affect the brain and body differently, making this a highly unpredictable disease. For seniors with advanced dementia, dementia care offers comprehensive support to ensure that a person leads a life of dignity, safety, and compassion. Earlier in the course of the disease, however, dementia care might offer too much. This is where Bridges comes in.
If you feel you can no longer live safely at home, or that assisted living doesn’t quite suit your needs, but dementia care seems like overkill, Bridges is the perfect solution. At The Preserve, our Bridges community offers a continuum of care based on your needs, interests, and specific concerns. Work with dementia experts to maximize your abilities and live life to its fullest. When and if you need more care, you can transition to our dementia care community without the stress of a big move.
How Bridges Serves Seniors
In the popular imagination, dementia is memory loss. For many people with dementia, the symptoms are subtler at first — trouble navigating town or difficulty making a familiar recipe, for example. As the disease progresses, memory loss is just one piece of the puzzle. Bridges specializes in helping seniors with mild to moderate dementia. You may need some help, and occasionally suffer memory loss, but still want to spend your time doing things that feel meaningful.
That’s what Bridges offers — activities tailored to the needs of people living with dementia, including art, music, celebrations, and more. We keep you active. We encourage you to make new friends. We feed you healthy, nourishing meals you’ll love eating. And we offer a beautiful, spotless home in which you’ll be proud to entertain the people you love. This support can keep you safe, encourage you to make healthy lifestyle choices, and may even slow the course of the disease. Research shows, for instance, that exercise may help people with dementia have healthier brains.
Signs That Bridges Might Be Right for You
Think Bridges could be the perfect community for your needs? Not sure what comes next? Here are some signs it might be time to move:
- Your family is conflicted about where or how you should live.
- You are relying more and more on loved ones to support you.
- Your current living situation is not meeting your needs, but you feel anxious about moving.
- You’re scared about what your future with dementia might look like.
- You want to make new friends, master new skills, and embrace new hobbies even though you have dementia.
- You feel lonely, isolated, or depressed.
- You want to do more with your retirement, but you worry about how dementia might undermine that goal.
We won’t sugarcoat it: Dementia is scary. The more you learn about it, though, the more we hope you’ll realize that dementia is just the beginning of a new chapter — not the end of the book. If you’re struggling with next steps or uncertain how dementia might affect your life, we invite you to check out our free comprehensive guide, “Living Well with Dementia.”
