Memory Caring

Memory Caring.

Our approach to memory care is rooted in Validation Therapy — a practical way of working with residents that helps reduce
stress, enhance dignity, and increase happiness.

Memory Care FAQs

Our fourth floor is a specialized memory care floor known as The Terrace, with an ideal balance of privacy, community, and
enriching activities. Residents are treated by our dedicated staff
with compassion and understanding in an environment where
their dignity and individuality is respected.

memory care faqs

Compassionate, Effective And Positive San Francisco Memory Care

Deciding to place a loved one in a home for advanced memory care can be an extraordinarily hard turning point for many families. Making that choice brings up a range of heavy emotions, on top of the concerns that the loved one receives the most thorough and compassionate care possible.

Rhoda Goldman Plaza’s memory care community is focused on providing residents that have dementia, Alzheimer’s, and other memory-related afflictions with a positive, comprehensive environment. We help our residents feel comfortable and supported, helping them through a complicated time while retaining as much autonomy and enjoyment as possible.

San Francisco Memory Care: What Is It?

Memory care is a more intensive, focused branch of assisted living, tailored to treat loved ones enduring the symptoms of late-stage memory loss. In communities like Rhoda Goldman Plaza, memory care is overseen by staff with specific training and experience in treating and supporting residents suffering from dementia, Alzheimer’s disease, and other related conditions.

Memory care differs from more general assisted living in several respects:

  1. Security. Memory care treatments are geared to keep residents safer by preventing wandering, making outside areas more secure, and performing more comprehensive safety checks.
  2. Relaxation. Memory care programs are concentrated on residents’ feelings of ease and comfort through community activities and tranquil surroundings.
  3. Communication. People with memory issues experience a change in their ability to communicate. Memory care professionals focus on understanding their patients by focusing on both verbal and non-verbal cues.
  4. Behavior. Memory care treatment emphasizes awareness of behavioral and social changes in dementia and Alzheimer’s patients, including typical symptoms such as depression, confusion, sleep disorders, and attitude changes.
  5. Design. Units in memory care institutions are built to promote comfort and mitigate stress. Design strategies may include brighter colors, barrier-free walkways, simplified room layouts, and other architectural and functional features.
  6. Staffing. Employees serving medical care communities are specifically trained to meet the unique needs of patients by assisting with daily activities, managing medication, communicating, understanding, and knowing how to respond to behavioral changes and disruption.

Rhoda Goldman Plaza is built and staffed to support the most conscientious and comprehensive memory care community in San Francisco. Our staff-to-resident ratio allows for more personalized care and in-house health services, with 24-hour supervision to prevent wandering and enhance security. Residents enjoy activities such as music and art therapy to improve comfort and enrich their social presence.

Rhoda Goldman Plaza is designed to mitigate our residents’ feelings of fear and confusion, with secure walkways and alarmed exit doors. Our staff is expressly trained to recognize and understand our residents’ behaviors and treat them with empathy, dignity, and respect.

Benefits Of A Memory Care Community

Peace of mind, for both memory care patients and their families, is the most significant advantage in being in a memory care community. It offers exclusive and focused services that no other organization does, with staff and resources expressly committed to working with an often unusual and unpredictable condition.

The ideal memory care community provides:

  1. Empowering activities. Memory care programs often help their residents maintain a sense of independence through daily actions, curating interests, and developing hobbies.
  2. Social inclusion. Memory care patients benefit from activities that encourage interaction, such as music therapy, storytelling, music events, meals, field trips, and more.
  3. Accessible and navigable passageways. Memory care residences are designed to reduce the stress patients often experience when moving about the premises, with features like barrier-free, non-repetitive hallways, warm colors, and clearly designated exits.
  4. Effective safety measures. Security for their residents is the focus of memory care employees. Every effort is extended to keep residents safe from outsiders and protect residents’ well-being and safety.
  5. Personal assistance. Memory care staff stays on top of all their residents' needs, such as medication management, household chores, mobility and transportation, personal hygiene, and more.
  6. Comfort and support. Most importantly, memory care communities help loved ones and their families feel comfortable, confident, and cared for during a vulnerable, changing time in their lives.

How To Tell When Your Loved One Needs A Memory Care Community

Late-stage memory issues can be difficult to diagnose. Afflictions can occur years before some patients show any symptoms, which often develop at a gradual, unnoticeable pace, depending on the person’s age and overall health.

Mild cognitive impairment is often the first tell-tale sign noticed in dementia and Alzheimer’s patients. This can include mild memory loss and emerging difficulty with speech or language. The person may exhibit signs of confusion in everyday activities that haven’t troubled them in the past or display unusual behaviors such as wandering or uncertainty. They may also be more emotional or aggressive, suffer from irregular sleep patterns, or experience incontinence or hygiene problems.

Caregivers often provide clues that their patients may need more advanced treatment. Their responsibilities may become more exhausting or demanding. Basic household chores, shopping, and transportation duties may progressively get more difficult. A professional caregiver may show signs of overwork, exhaustion, anxiety, or depression.

Physicians and specialists usually can issue a definitive diagnosis as to whether your loved one needs to transition to memory care. Families should, however, keep an eye on certain behavioral changes, and consider whether their loved one can continue to live safely without causing harm to others.

Services Provided At Rhoda Goldman Plaza’s Memory Care Community In San Francisco

Rhoda Goldman Plaza offers San Francisco memory care, treating every resident with the concern, attention, and respect they deserve in a relaxing, upscale environment. We offer:

  1. The Terrace, our fourth floor specifically designated for memory care residents and activities
  2. Assistance with living functions, including meals, housekeeping, and personal care
  3. 24-hour monitoring and supervision
  4. A high staff-to-patient ratio
  5. Structured, easy-to-navigate hallways, apartments and communal areas
  6. A full slate of engaging activities
  7. Cognitive treatments and therapy, including our patented Validation Therapy
  8. Immediate response to emergencies
  9. Registered nurses, assistants, vocational nurses and therapists with specific training and extensive experience in memory care

Rhoda Goldman Plaza operates our San Francisco memory care community with the same values and principles as our assisted living guests. Feeling accepted and appreciated is a particularly critical component of living with memory-related conditions. We emphasize those virtues with every one of our residents to make us the most vibrant and thoughtful memory care community in San Francisco.

Let’s Connect.

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    For more information on why our memory care community could be your best choice,
    please call or email Adrienne Fair, MSN, RN, Assistant Executive Director.
    415.345.5077

    Email Adrienne NowEmail Adrienne Now
    Are we making the right decision to move our loved one to a memory care community?

    Every family’s experience is unique, but we find that residents respond very well to the caregiving and programming routines of our memory care program. We graciously guide the resident throughout the day; friends and family can focus on spending time with their loved one without being responsible for medications, behavioral concerns, or personal hygiene challenges.

    What is therapeutic programming?

    Therapeutic programming consists of individual and group activities therapy, directed by a licensed professional and designed to improve the quality of life for individuals with memory loss. Every day, The Terrace programming is comprised of activities intended to stimulate each major area of functioning: physical, cognitive, artistic/creative, and sensory. In addition to stimulating multiple areas of functioning, we also provide a safe place for emotional expression. This is a supportive environment where residents can engage and succeed in activities they enjoy. While we find that maintaining a structured routine is helpful for residents with memory loss, therapeutic programming is also flexible. Because activities are structured by qualified individuals, we can adapt any activity to whatever a resident may need at a particular moment of the day.

    How much personal care can we expect?

    Our staff-to-resident ratio is higher than the industry standard and we staff to the residents’ needs, not to a profit margin determined by a for-profit corporation. Memory care residents are closely monitored, including hourly status checks throughout the day and overnight. Care staff includes certified caregivers, medication managers, and round-the-clock licensed vocational nurse (LVN) coverage. Residents are assisted with all of their basic needs including bathing, dressing, toileting, transferring, and being escorted within the community. We also provide reminders and prompting so that residents can independently complete as much of their daily routine as possible.

    How do you manage difficult behaviors?

    We are staffed by licensed professionals: a registered nurse (RN), certified nursing assistants (CNAs), licensed vocational nurses (LVNs), licensed marriage and family therapists (MFTs), and medication technicians. In addition to our extensive initial staff training process, we also provide ongoing monthly staff training. Our staff is adept at recognizing behavioral cues and addressing the causes of agitation. Dementia is an extensive subject covered in training and we take professional pride in redirecting residents without the use of behavioral medications as much as possible. We strive to adapt our environment and approach so that each resident can find comfort, self-expression, and the highest possible quality of life.

    Do you have to be Jewish to live at Rhoda Goldman Plaza?

    Residents are not required to be Jewish to live here—we welcome residents of all faiths as well as residents who are more secular than religious. Our memory care program, in particular, has residents of many backgrounds and faiths, and we individualize programming to resident interests and capabilities.

    Do residents keep the same primary care doctor?

    We work with each resident’s primary care provider for medication management and any change in condition, either mental or physical. Residents who have a primary care provider in San Francisco will continue to see the same primary care provider. Residents from outside San Francisco will need a local physician — we can provide a list of local providers, including physicians who make house calls to our community.

    What happens if my loved one needs to go to the hospital?

    We have 24-hour nursing staff who will convey the insurance information, health history, and emergent concerns to the paramedics and emergency room (ER) staff. The nurse will also notify the resident’s primary emergency contact and the resident’s primary care physician. If the resident’s family is unable to meet the resident at the ER, we will appoint a staff member to accompany the resident to the hospital. As hospital emergency rooms can be particularly confusing and traumatizing for residents, our staff will stay with the resident until he or she is safely monitored by hospital staff.

    What can we expect at mealtimes?

    Mealtimes are very social for residents, who often enjoy talking with one another during meals. There is no predetermined time to finish meals and residents are encouraged to eat at their own pace. The memory care dining room looks out across a park and library where residents can watch soccer games, school groups, and joggers.

    What if my loved one doesn’t like activities?

    We invite and encourage residents to participate in therapeutic programming. We also tailor activities to the interests and preferences of our residents. That said, we also respect each resident’s autonomy; those not interested in an activity can relax in their apartment or an alternative common area.

    Rhoda Goldman Plaza Residents

    Our high staff-to-resident ratio ensures loved ones are treated with compassion and understanding in
    an environment where their dignity is preserved and respected.