Hello again,

I was speaking with a colleague, Nancy Jokinen, Assistant Professor at UNBC School of Social Work and she mentioned that you may consider leveraging learnings from the developmental services sector. She provided the following information to share with you and others interested in this topic:

"In Ontario – I believe Community Living London operates a dementia specific home. In Vancouver, I think the Developmental Disabilities Association does."

Here are some publications on the topic of small group homes:

Annerstedt, L. (1997). Group-living care: An alternative for the demented elderly. Dementia and Geriatric Cognitive Disorders, 8, 136-142.

Boekhorst, S. t., Pot, A. M., Depla, M., Smit, D., Lange, J. d., & Eefsting, J. (2008). Group living homes for older people with dementia: The effects on psychological distress of informal caregivers. Aging & Mental Health, 12(6), 761 - 768.

Chaput, J. (2002). Adults with Down Syndrome and Alzheimer's Disease: Comparison of Services Received in Group Homes and in Special Care Units. Journal of Gerontological Social Work, 38(1-2), 2.

Funaki, Y., Kaneko, F., & Okamura, H. (2005). Study on factors associated with changes in quality of life of demented elderly persons in group homes. Scandinavian Journal of Occupational Therapy, 12(1), 4 - 9.

Janicki, M., Dalton, A., McCallion, P., Baxley, D., & Zendel, A. (2005). Providing Group Home Care for Adults with Intellectual Disabilities and Alzheimer's Disease. Dementia, 4(3), 361-385.

Janicki, M. P. (2011). Quality outcomes in group home dementia care for adults with intellectual disabilities. Journal of Intellectual Disability Research, no.

Janicki, M. P., Dalton, A., McCallion, P., Baxley, D., & Zendell, A. (2005). Group home care for adults with intellectual disabilities and Alzheimer's disease. Dementia, 4(3), 361-385.

Verbeek, H., van Rossum, E., Zwakhalen, S., Ambergen, T., Gertrudis, IJM., and Hamers J. (2009). The effects of small-scale, homelike facilities for older people with dementia on residents, family caregivers and staff: design of a longitudinal, quasi-experimental study. BMC Geriatr. 2009; 9: 3.

Also check out this news release on the topic:
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/09/110915083649.htm

Hi Cammy, further to Sarah's response below, we have an additional contact that has been identified and may be able to help with your question. Ann Doyle, works for Western Health in Newfoundland and Labrador. They have 4-10 bed dementia care bungalows called Protective Community Residences. Ann has indicated she would be happy to discuss further if you'd like: 709-646-3209

Hi Cammy

Very interesting question and a topic which is certainly beginning to gain a lot of interest! We reached out to our National Behavioural Support Systems Resource Group who produced the document National BSS Project: Guiding Principles and Recommended Components. See page 2 for a listing of group members.

Listed below are some points and information that were shared from this group and will hopefully help point you in the right direction:

New Brunswick

PRoTEM health services housing: ProTem Health Services, located in Moncton, New Brunswick, owns and operates the only small-option homes in Atlantic Canada for persons living with Alzheimer*s and other memory disorders (Dementia). We began operations in 1996 and now have five facilities with ten residents in each. All five homes are located in the Gorge Road / Mountain Road area of Moncton. Contact: Chris Wallace, President (protem [at] nb [dot] aibn [dot] com</a" rel="nofollow">)

Ontario

The Toronto based SPRINT (Senior Peoples’ resources in North Toronto) runs Ewart Angus Homes and Cedarhurst, both small homes for people with dementia, one funded through Supportive Housing (Ewart Angus) and one not. Their website offers the following:

Ewart Angus Home and Cedarhurst are residences for people living with Alzheimer's and related dementias who are no longer safe living in their own home. In these small home-like residences, trained and caring staff encourage residents to be as involved as they are able in the activities of daily living. Ewart Angus Home celebrated its 10th anniversary in 2009. Click here for a fact sheet.

For more information about Ewart Angus Home, you can call the home at (416) 544-0689. For the SPRINT about Cedarhurst you can call (416) 447-1474 or check the website


Newfoundland and Labrador

There are some seniors’ bungalows on the west coast of our province for people with dementia. (We are trying to track down a contact)

Outside of Canada

Scandinavian countries have done some work in this area
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/8225014
http://www.potomacgrouphomes.com/
http://www.thirdage.com/news/dementia-patients-improve-in-small-group-homes_09-20-2011

“In Western Manitoba we have many smaller Personal Care Homes that have between 10 and 20 beds, however they are level 3 & 4 Nursing homes and not designed specifically for person’s with dementia. We have one small 10 bed Supported Housing unit with a health care aid 24/7 and Activities. Clients may also reciev Home Care Nursing or other additional services as indicated.

We also have some small private “Residential Care Homes” with between 2-6 clients residing in a private home with a family care provider. These are generally mental health clients as they are not usually able to provide for the safety needs of confused individuals. We do not anticipate maintaining further homes when the current care providers retire.

There is one unit located in a neighboring region which I am not personally familiar with. The Foyer Notre Dame is 60-bed personal care home that operates an Alzheimer Unit, Le Chez Nous. I do not have current information on it’s set up but contact information can be found by clicking here

When there is difficulty providing care to a client with dementia, another option is the Selkirk Mental Health Centre Extended Treatment Unit. This is generally reserved for situations when all other options have been explored/exhausted. This is a purpose appropriate environment with appropriate staff levels and small numbers. It would be nice to see this approach to care, staffing levels and design available across the province. Maybe some day!

I find there really is a need to provide Dementia care in a variety of settings. I believe that the education of both front line health care providers and to the administrative decision makers will be the key to effectiveness and to the development of appropriate environments for dementia care in many settings.