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Our Garden
Outside is a patio for casual dining and socializing, opening
onto lovely natural grounds with wandering paths throughout.
We believe that access to the outdoors, lacking in many
long-term care facilities, is essential to the well-being
of our residents.
Activities include creating and tending to a flower
garden, a vegetable garden and an herb garden, as well
as borders. The garden at Barton House presents unlimited
possibilities. In the winter, the emphasis is put on
the upkeep of indoor plants. By creating the gardens
and seeing to their upkeep, we want to make every resident
feel equally important. They have the opportunity to
pick the type of plant and to personally help care for
them. This builds tremendous self-esteem, is fun, and
the residents get the chance to work together as a team.
The flowers grown are used to decorate the inside of
the house, and the vegetables and herbs are used in
food preparation, again stressing each residents' importance
and so building confidence and pride.
Common Areas
Our KITCHEN is in the center of
things. It is designed that way to meet the special needs of
people with Alzheimer's who often have difficulty with their
appetite. The interesting sights, sounds and delicious smells
of food being prepared for them help stimulate and maintain
their interest in food. Chatting with the cook, asking questions,
giving advice, helping with certain tasks and sampling are encouraged!
Four delicious, nutritious, home cooked meals and two
snacks are served. We plan our meals carefully, paying
close attention to the special dietary needs and physical
capabilities of our individual residents. Between meals,
our snack refrigerator is stocked with fruit, juice
and other goodies. Residents can help themselves whenever
they are hungry. We make every effort to meet the nutritional
needs of our residents - individual, special care is
our emphasis and independence is encouraged. Mealtime
is a pleasant, relaxed social experience.
Resident Rooms
The resident rooms are on the outer most part of the building
allowing each room to open onto the common areas. This, along
with the size of the rooms, encourages the residents to come
out of their rooms to socialize, communicate, become active
and stimulated. This activity is critical to the program as
it keeps the residents functioning at the highest possible
level. The rooms are equipped with a private half bath, a
custom-built wardrobe that allows us to assist them with clothing
choices and prevent hoarding and layering, a bedside table
with a drawer and a shelf, a bed that looks like a regular
twin size bed but can also function as an adjustable bed should
the resident become temporarily infirm, a chair, and a curio
cabinet just outside the door. The curio cabinet along with
the matching room and bathroom door help provide the resident
with visual cues that this is her room. Each room is fully
carpeted and decorated differently from the room on either
side of it.
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