What is Montessori-based Care?
/WinnPrairie has a Montessori-based approach of care for all of its residents. But you may be asking yourself what that means. Montessori care for elders and dementia patients is a person-centered care method that encourages individuals to engage with their environment in a meaningful way, thus enhancing their quality of life.
Our Montessori approach starts with our beautiful facility. Our walls are painted in a gradation going from a lighter to a darker color as the residents near the end of our hallways. Many of our hallways and walking paths have rounded or circular edges so that our residents can flow from one area of the building to another seamlessly. We offer many areas for activities, such as folding laundry, baking, crafting, indoor and outdoor gardening, and aquariums to encourage resident relaxation, conversation, and activity. There are many bright windows with views of nature and nature sounds and other soft music is played throughout the facility.
Our staff is specially trained in Montessori care. Natalie Countryman, RN-Certified Montessori Dementia Care Professional is highly trained and has taken the lead role in our Montessori Care Department. Natalie received her certification through the International Council of Certified Dementia Practitioners. This council is the Worldwide Leader in Providing Dementia Education and Dementia Certification for Health Care Professionals and Support Industries Who Serve the Elderly.
Like so many of our residents, Natalie was raised in the Freeport area. As a result, she has a unique perspective to the Montessori care provided in our facility specific to many of our residents.
Natalie’s passion for Montessori is clear and she shares her passion with the rest of the WinnPrairie team during their monthly training sessions. Because the Montessori Method is unique to each resident when caring for each Alzheimer’s or Dementia patient, Natalie uses real-life examples to help train her team to best care for each resident.
Our Montessori care begins the day you arrive. We like to spend several hours with our new residents and their family members getting to know each individual, about their family, what job they may have had before joining us, what hobbies they enjoy, trips they’ve taken, music they like to listen to, foods they like and dislike to eat, pets that have impacted their lives, schools they have attended, and many other details that have shaped the people that they are today. Some of these details are shared on posters outside of their doors as conversation starters for staff and other residents, other more in-depth details are kept in their medical record. These details about our residents help us not just to get to know them, but to tailor activities around things that they enjoy.
Our Montessori theme gets a lot of help from our activities department. Our activities team plans outings, crafts, games, baking, animal visits, and so much more for our residents. Daily engagement is always geared toward each individual and the things that they enjoy doing. Some of our residents enjoy things like helping to set the tables at mealtimes, watering indoor plants, folding laundry items, sweeping areas of the floors, helping with the plants outdoors, listening to music, dancing, playing games, putting together puzzles, and going for walks. The things that you might take for granted or think of as chores in your daily routine are things that our residents miss doing and find to be the simple pleasures in life and enjoy. We have plans to continually expand our activities as we expand our knowledge of things our residents love to do.
