St. John's plans to build Assisted Living Alzheimer Care Center

St. John Specialty Care Center in Mars plans to build a $5.2 million Assisted Living Alzheimer Care Center to give patients in early stages of the disease an opportunity to live as independently as possible.

Employees, board members and community donors already have raised $1 million of a $2.5 million Capital Campaign the Lutheran SeniorLife Foundation earmarked for the project, said Thomas Prickett, St. John's executive director.

"We're taking the expertise of St. John's Specialty Care programs for Alzheimer's patients and expanding it into a social environment for Alzheimer's patients," Prickett said.

St. John's, a 322-bed nursing home, allots 180 beds for patients with Alzheimer's or dementia, Prickett said.

Construction will begin in spring on the 30-bed complex, and residents should be able to move in sometime in 2009.

The Alzheimer Care Center will be located on 5.5 acres. The property will be divided into two households with 15 beds each. The households will have 13 private rooms and one suite that will accommodate two individuals, such as a husband and wife.

"It (the center) will be fairly cutting edge for layout, environmental aspects, technology and programs," Prickett said.

Social areas and the dining room will have lots of sunshine, and residents' rooms will have windows with views.

"Natural light helps with the depression and agitation commonly associated with Alzheimer's and dementia patients," Prickett said.

Colors and textures will be used to assist residents in identifying their rooms and maneuvering around the center.

A safety program will allow staff to easily monitor residents as they move around the facility or exit areas to go outside to the garden area. "It will give them (residents) a sense of freedom and independence," said Dana Dudra-Biel, behavioral specialist.

Meals will be served family style in the dining room, Dudra-Biel said. Residents will help with chores, to "promote normalcy in their lives from day to day," she said.

Giving Alzheimer's disease patients the opportunity to socialize might help slow the progression of the disease, said Rose Conroy, St. John's director of nursing. "Focusing on who they are and things they've done in the past will keep them at a higher level of functioning," she said.

Prickett said the six-county Greater Pittsburgh area has about 87,850 Alzheimer's disease patients.