Pickering Manor Memory Care opened its doors to its first residents on Sept. 12.
That day, Pickering Manor welcomed its very first Memory Care resident, Elizabeth Kaczur, and on Oct. 3 she cut the ribbon at the grand opening ceremony.
Opening Memory Care to the community is a monumental moment for Pickering as this is the first time that a brand-new residency option will be operating within the Pickering Manor home since its birth in 1963.
Pickering Manor has grown significantly in the past 59 years from a small nursing home of 47 residents to a newly expanded and renovated life plan community offering the full continuum of care, and most recently adding a 21-bed Memory Care Neighborhood.
Administrator Meri Luarasi will lead Pickering Manor’s Memory Care. Luarasi has 25 years of experience in gerontology. She is a certified dementia practitioner and educator and holds the title Certified Dementia Care Manager. Additionally, Luarasi is chair/founder of Dementia Friendly Newtown, a volunteer with Alzheimer’s Association, and screener for Alzheimer’s Foundation of America.
When developing the Memory Care neighborhood, it was vital that Pickering Manor residents were involved every step of the way. An example of this can be seen throughout the hallways in Memory Care: Pickering Manor residents Elizabeth Kaczur and SaraJane Dallas exercised their interests, as former designers, and assisted in choosing the paint colors for the entire neighborhood based on the psychology of color and how the colors made them feel.
Additionally, Kaczur assisted Memory Care activities coordinator Emma Lambert by sorting through fabric designs together to find “just the right one” for Lambert to create clothing protectors for Memory Care residents.
Various high tech and low-tech solutions are utilized in the Memory Care home, including a sky window that brings the dynamic beauty of nature – image, motion, and sound – to the interior; True Doors Decals that simulate types of doors this generation had for their homes; dementia phones and clocks; and Pickering’s Music and Memory Program.
For more information regarding employment opportunities, tours or donations contact Pickering Manor at 215-486-3468 or visit pickeringmanor.org.
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